Fights and Flames
by LittleMissBrit
Summary: Sequel to 'Sparks and Spies.' Being an Avenger in a relationship is never easy. Especially with SHIELD breaking at the seams. Steve/OC.
1. Chapter 1

**DISCLAIMED**

**Hey- to my old readers, welcome back and to my new ones, welcome. I hope you enjoy this story. I recommend that you read 'Sparks and Spies' in order to understand this, but if you do not want to, there are only a few details you need to know. It basically boils down to the fact that Emily is a SHIELD agent, works with the Avengers sometimes and is the niece of Phil Coulson. This is set two years after Sparks and Spies, in late 2014.**

**So without further ado, I present 'Fights and Flames.' I hope you have a good time reading it.**

**Chapter 1**

Location: SoHo, New York City, New York

The bar at the fancy hotel was filled with activity on the Friday night. It seemed that none of the guests had a dime to spare as they sipped the finest wine and champagne, celebrating whatever was going well in their lives. Engagements, birthdays, business deals, maybe just having the money to afford a place like this. It was probably worth the cash though, even though the drink prices were borderline criminal.

Hell, the entire place screamed money. These weren't suits from the wedding sections of the local department store- these were your high end Armani and Vivienne Westwoods, a place where you'd have to have to be actually wearing those brands to get in. You wouldn't get these dresses in the discount section of Macy's. Well, they would cost nearly triple the monthly paycheck of the average American citizen. Diamonds and jewels lifted from the highest security vaults of the jewellers. Shoes that you wouldn't wear out to the club, bags that wouldn't be out of a place at the latest celebrity wedding- it was all there. The bartenders wouldn't get you beer at all; you'd have to walk down to the nearest sports bar for that. Music was played from the strings of the band, the beauty of the rhythm swaying throughout the room. It was quiet, delicate with mindless chitter-chatter and the clink of the celebratory glasses. No one raised their voices above a gentle, calm tone, apart from the loud laughter that came from the groups and pairs every so often.

No one looked out of place. This was obviously quite good, because the person who most wanted to blend in the most was indeed doing so.

She was alone, unlike the other members of the bar, not gossiping with a group of girls, celebrating a business deal or spending some quality time with a significant other. Her hair was pulled up into a smooth bun; the only hair out of place was purposeful- wisps falling down from the sides. The dress was just from some boutique in Tribeca, nothing expensive- same story with the shoes and bag. To the untrained eye, the necklace and earrings were dripping in diamonds. The earrings were an old birthday gift and the necklace was from the same store as the dress. The black material hugged her curves- nothing too revealing, but it was far from conservative at the same time. The champage sat, half-drunk, in the flute next to her, having lasted nearly an hour. She brought it to her lip, sipping it gently. The taste was pleasant, but not too much to her liking. She had no time to enjoy it, however, as this woman was not here to listen to the music and drink to her heart's content. She was on a mission, and she was going to suceed.

Unlike the other people in the room, Agent Emily Collins was not here for business or pleasure- well; she was for business, but not in the way others were. She brushed a wisp away as she stretched her leg upward, surveying the room, trying to avoid a gaze of the young man who had been staring at her for the best part of forty-five minutes. A part of her wished to try and give him some kind of signal that would let him know what she was not interested, but this would blow her cover and that was something she could _not _afford to do. Instead, she sighed and looked around, running her finger around the glass in a soft manner. The Undercover Unit had been disbanded, as SHIELD just thought that there weren't enough operations, at least ones that could be done at short notice, so she'd been sent- there were no Avengers activities for her to work on.

Her current interest was a businessman, Charles Hensridge, who was believed to have partaken in some very…unsavoury business deals that had involved SHIELD personnel. They could charge him with being an accessory for murder, which carried a very heavy penalty and prison term. Instead of charging in and arresting him, they wanted to lure him out. He always had heavy security with him- nothing SHIELD couldn't handle, of course- but he'd seemed to have taken the night off. It was just easier that way. Apparently, he had a taste for women. So Emily was dressed up and sent off. She wasn't complaining, as it was one of the better assignments. Well, she'd have to flirt with a fifty year-old man but she was in a nice, posh hotel and the drinks were being paid for. There had been a lot worse.

She scoured the room for him, but hadn't spotted him yet- he hadn't arrived yet, it seemed. She was growing restless, bored even, but she knew that she would have to remain patient. Patience was a virtue, as the proverb went. She wasn't sure if it was true, but it couldn't be too wrong. As if she were speaking to someone, she shook her head. Well, she kind of was – there were cameras everywhere.

But, just as she was beginning to get really annoyed, he appeared in her line of sight. Tall, balding with a growing waistline. He was nowhere near fat, but he was starting to let himself go. She could tell that he was the kind of guy who used to be very handsome. The suit was perfectly tailored, obviously expensive and she had to admit that his taste was excellent- it suited him right down to the tie. His drink was already nearly finished- it hadn't taken him long. She slipped her compact out of her bag and flipped it open, surveying her reflection in the gleaming glass. Adjusting her lipstick- only the most seductive red, she flipped it back shut and placed them both back in the bag.

Emily straightened her back up, making herself look confident and poised. She wasn't Emily Collins. She was Elizabeth Jenson, a 25 year-old businesswoman from Los Angeles, born and raised. Went to a fancy school, a top college and was high up in the company Global Computers Inc. In town for a very important meeting that would make or break her company- they would need someone charismatic, so they sent Elizabeth, or Lizzie, as she liked to be called. Recently broken up with her boyfriend- sad, heartbroken, in fact- they'd been together for nearly four years.

The young man from earlier had gone so she now had a clear view of him- he was straight in her line of sight. Right, perfect. This was all going very smoothly. All she needed to do was catch his attention and hoped that he would take the bait.

As if on cue, she caught his eye and she waved slightly, a little flick of the wrist. He turned around but then realised that there was no one behind him. He looked back and not being able to resist, she sent a little wink along the way. He smirked slightly and with a little nod of her head, he knew to come over. Collecting his drink, he strode over, confidence oozing out of every pore. Or so it seemed. He portrayed someone who was trying to seem cool, calm and collected but she could see the slight quiver of his hand and the sweat lining his forehead, falling down in beads.

He finally arrived at the table.

"Hey," he nodded.

"Hi," she pushed the chair back with her foot and indicated at it, "Why don't you sit down?"

He gave her a dashing smile, his pearly whites twinkling. She involuntarily shuddered, but the Elizabeth in her told her to maintain straight-faced. He settled himself down as she took a sip from her glass, looking at him over the top of it.

"I think we should start with introductions," he held out a large hand, "Charles."

"Elizabeth Jenson," she took his hand and shook it firmly, high in the air, but no longer than she had to, "It is a pleasure to meet you."

"No, the pleasure is all mine, Miss. Jenson, I'm not used to having beautiful women invite me over."

She faked a laugh- well, more of a giggle, "Oh dear, I'm not sure that I can quite believe that, Mr. Charles. I'm sure that women flock to you. You are, after all, a man of handsomeness and charm. Why a woman would not be attracted to you remains a mystery to me."

He laughed too.

"Oh dear, you are too charming, Miss. Jenson. Or may I call you Elizabeth?"

"You may but I must say I do prefer Lizzie," she leaned forward.

"Then Lizzie it is."

They lapsed into silence as he his eyes raked her. It wasn't exactly lust or hunger, it was more of…well, she wasn't too sure. She admired the tinkering of the ivories as a piano player mounted the stage, playing a tune unknown to her. She wasn't too well versed in music beyond the radio and her iPod, especially the classics that were probably playing now. That was more of her mother's forté- she was an excellent pianist who enjoyed spending hours playing the classics. Her instructions had been to invite him up to her hotel room, where the other agents would be laying in wait. The thought made her skin crawl, but she had to do what an agent had to do. She was quite good for following orders, unless they somehow went against her strongest moral beliefs. Unfortunately, this didn't quite count.

"So, , what brings you here?" she leaned back in her chair.

"Well, Lizzie, m'dear, I was hoping to meet a friend, but most unfortunately, his wife fell ill so he had to stay home to care for her. At least he had a legitimate reason for leaving me; I agree that it is quite a good one."

She shook her head in sympathy.

"I agree, that it is quite a shame that you got all dressed up to come here but as you said, your friend seems to have a good reason for leaving you here all alone."

"But what about you, what are you here for? Business or pleasure?"

She leaned back even further into the plush upper cushioning, "Business, but I'm now starting to think that pleasure may be on the cards now."

Hensridge looked almost pleased with himself. She brought her hand forward to enforce the fact that there was no ring on her finger, something that she knew that he was wondering. She didn't even need to look- she knew that he had never been married. He looked coyly downwards and upon seeing her empty hand, a twisted smile appeared on his face at his good fortune.

"May I ask what kind of business that is?"

"Just a meeting, nothing important," she twisted a whisp in her finger, "Well, not important to me, more to my superiors. I just enjoy the city life, reminds me of home."

"So you're a city girl, hm? Let me guess…Chicago? No, not Chicago…how about Los Angeles?"

"Very good, well down, a Los Angeles girl born and bred. What about yourself, are you a city boy too or a country lad strong and proud?"

He nodded at the first part, "Yes, I'm a city boy too, but I'm a native New Yorker. I've missed it a lot, as I've been working all around the country recently, especially in the South but I'm not really accustomed to Dallas or anywhere like that."

She gave what she hoped was an excited smile as she tapped her foot against the table leg. That was one difference between her and 'Lizzie.' Emily had grown up in Hampton Township, Pennsylvania, a regular sized just twenty minutes away from Pittsburgh. She'd moved to New York after graduation.

"So, what do you do for a living?" she asked him, with (fake) interest.

"I run my own finance company," he suddenly looked happy (of course, he was due to get a buttload of dosh for his illegal earnings), "And yourself?"

"A businesswoman myself, too. I'm a Junior Executive at Global Computer Inc."

"Oh yes, I've heard of it, didn't you rank high in a Forbes list recently? You must have, I'm a regular reader, and I remember everything about it. You must be excellent at your job if you're a Junior Exec at your age, must mean you're smart. I do know someone there, Daniel Cooper. You know him? He works in legal? He's a great guy."

She nodded, biting her lip slightly.

"Yes, I think so, that name certainly does ring a bell, but then again, I don't really encounter that department in my job. Is he is in his mid-thirties? Dark hair? Or am I thinking of someone else?"

At that point, he nodded so rapidly that it looked as though his head was about to break off, "Oh yes, that's him! Cracking guy isn't he, really smart? Got me out of a few sticky situations myself, he's an excellent lawyer, very good at his job."

_Bingo._

"Oh yes," she lied smoothly, "I think I've encountered him at a few office parties."

"Oh, I must mention your name next time I get into contact with him. He recently got engaged to this girl called Lucinda, lovely girl, around his age, another lawyer. God, she's bloody smart she is."

She gave another slight nod.

"Well isn't that lovely? I must pass on my congratulations when I get back."

His eyes travelled back to her hand, which was resting on the table. She tapped her fingers against the wood as she followed his line of sight.

"So speaking of engagements, it looks like you no-one's put a ring on your finger. How can no guy have wanted a dashing lady like you yet? If I knew you, I'd be putting a rock on that so fast that you'd need to slow down the footage just to see."

He chuckled to himself and she forced a grin.

"No, no engagement quite yet. I was hoping for a proposal recently, but I broke up with my boyfriend."

His eyes faked sympathy, but she could see the slight pleasure in them.

"I'm sorry to hear that."

"Don't be, he was a jerk. Caught him in bed with his co-worker and that put an end to our relationship pretty quickly. Should have seen it coming, there were so many warning signs, but oh well, at least I'm out a toxic romance. There are plenty more fish in the sea. But what about you?"

She made sure that he noticed her eyes raking him up and down in the process.

"Well, that guy is insane to cheat on such a hot young thing like you. And to answer you earlier question, I'm afraid that there's no one that at the moment. There have been a few ladies in the past, ones whom I was quite serious about, but things get in the way. Long-distances, work, lack of communication on both parts. I admit I was quite to blame in some cases, but it was the ladies in others. I'm getting far too old to settle down now, so I've given up looking for _The One."_

Emily grimaced as Hensridge shook his head.

"Anyway, it doesn't matter. All the happiness one needs is in corporate satisfaction."

"I'll drink to that," he agreed, lifting his glass. They clinked together and both drunk simulatenously, both taking polite and delicate sips. That look of…interest had now appeared on his face.

"So how long are you in town for?"

"A couple more days for a business deal, got to do some company stuff in Florida then I'm back here indefinitely, thank God. Where else can you get Chinese food at 3 o'clock in the morning?"

She faked yet another laugh.

"Oh, how true, but I prefer Thai myself."

Another lie- Emily loved Chinese food; it was her ideal take-out choice. She didn't mind Thai but if it was her choice, she wouldn't choose it.

"Thai, seems very like you."

She smirked, "Oh, how so?"

"Well, you're mysterious, sensual like the Middle East. Hot, sometimes."

"Sometimes? Should I be offended, Mr. Charles?"

A look of fleeting panic rushed across his face as he worried that he'd offended his 'date' for the night.

"Oh, sorry Lizzie, I…"

She actually laughed this time, "Oh dear, I was just pulling your leg, don't worry though."

He looked slightly relieved as they both sipped their drink. Emily now knew that it was the time to invite him back up to her hotel room. That was where the other agents were lying in wait, ready to arrest him. If she had to, she could. Her gun was hidden somewhere on her person, somewhere that Hensridge would not be able to see unless he had the abilities of a federal agent. They'd gotten a room free of charge (they had to push the badge a lot), but Emily wasn't allowed to stay in it. She wanted to, but her apartment wasn't far from the hotel, so there would admittedly have been no point.

She sighed.

"Something wrong?"

Emily made a point of looking around, "This place is kind of dead."

He looked like he wanted to disagree, "So what do you suggest?"

She leaned forward, face in hand, "Why don't we take this upstairs?"

Hensridge's eyes glittered with excitement, even happier than earlier.

"How about my room?" he suggested in a low, husky tone, "It's got a nice view."

Emily laughed once again, her fingers once again tracing the rim of her champagne glass, "Oh Mr. Charles, I think we both know that it is not the view that we're both interested in."

"Your room it is."

They both got up, leaving their glasses for the staff to collect. They both headed towards the elevator, Emily's heels clicking against the marble floor. The doormen opened the bar doors for them, exchanging knowing looks as they were thanked- it was evidently not a rare event for older men and younger women to go back to the hotel rooms together. As they walked down the corridor, she felt Hensridge's hand fall across the small of her back. Resisting the urge to move it away, they finally reached the elevators and Emily leaned forward, pushing the button that would take them up to the fifth floor, where 'Lizzie' was staying. She tapped her foot against the floor as Hensridge checked his (expensive Cartier) watch. Eventually, the elevator doors opened.

"Fifth floor please," she requested of the bellhop, draped in a neat black uniform. As it shot upwards, Emily inwardly prayed that it would go faster, but for a completely different reason that Hensridge did. Making it look as though she was merely scracthing the back of her leg, she made sure that her gun was in place. Even though there was a team waiting, she wasn't stupid enough to go in without a weapon. Even though she was nearly entirely sure that she could drop him in an instant, she knew that there was a chance that he could attack her bad. She wasn't stupid enough to think she could underestimate him.

They finally got to the floor and Hensridge took away the arm from Emily's back. She gave a kindly smile to the bellhop as they headed out of the elevator. There was silence as they walked over to the hotel room. She withdew her room card and pushed it into the slot. Hensridge, who was now extremely excited, pushed the door open to allow Emily in first.

"Nice room."

"It is, isn't it?" she sneered at his back as he looked around admiringly, "Why don't your pour us a drink at the mini-bar whilst I go and freshen up?"

He nodded as she went into the bathroom, leaving the door slightly ajar. She extended her leg up and pulled her gun out of the holster that it was waiting in, locking and loading the pistol. She could hear the clanging of bottles and glasses as he hurried to make a drink.

"You want bourbon or a scotch?" he called.

"Whatever you're having, I don't mind!" she yelled back, slipping the gun in her bag and carrying it out of the bathroom. She walked back into the living area where the older man was stood, two glasses of scotch in his hands. He approached as she slipped the back onto the side table.

"Here you are, my dear," he handed her the glass, "Cheers."

"Cheers," she smiled back, clinking their glasses together, sipping the scotch neatly, her hands hovering near the bag, ready to place a gun to him as he walked straight into the trap. To their credit, the SHIELD agents were being incredibly quiet and had not given themselves away just yet. Then again, it was their job, wasn't it?

"It's good scotch here," Hensridge admired the drink.

"Oh yes, it's one of the best I've ever had," she lied. She wasn't really a scotch kind of person- it just wasn't to her taste. She was more of a cocktail person, but didn't mind wine or champagne at social occasions such as dinner parties and weddings. The best scotch she'd had was from her grandather's drinks cellar.

"Are you ready to go?" she winked, placing the drink down as she inconspicuously drew the pistol closer to her.

"Oh, yes," he whispered, excitedly.

"After you," she indicated towards the door with a flattened palm.

"Oh, ladies first, of course," he went to slide the doors open for her.

"No, I do insist," she tried to sound as innocent as can be.

He nodded and pulled the doors open, looking slightly over at her. She took the time for him to turn around to grab her pistol and position it at his back. As soon as the doors were opened, the agents sprung into action, their guns pointed straight at him.

"Hands in the air," one of them yelled.

Hensridge's eyes widened with fear as he threw his hands in the air in a surrender motion. He circled around to see if 'Lizzie' was doing the same. To his utter surprise, Emily smirked as she pointed the gun at his body.

"Hey," she gave him a cocky grin.

"You're a f…fed," he stuttered, his mouth wide open.

"Yes, yes I am, SHIELD to be precise. Charles Hensridge, you are under arrest for illegal trading and being an accessory to murder. You have the right to remain silent. Anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have an attorney present during questioning. If you cannot afford an attorney, one will be appointed for you. Do you understand these rights? "

"B…But…"

"Is that a yes or a no?" she pressed her gun into his chest.

"Yes, that's a yes!" he stuttered as several agents went forward to put him in handcuffs, "But I haven't done anything, I swear. Those receipts totally checked out, I swear."

"You really think it would be SHIELD arresting you if it concerned illegal receipts? No, we've got other things on our mind."

A thought flashed through the criminal's mind.

"Look, I swear…"

"Listen, you'll get your chance in court but right now, the evidence is stacked against you."

He glared at her as he was pushed away by two female agents, whom, like Emily, seemed immune to his charms. She watched him walk away with great satisfaction, knowing that they had got him before she'd had to go any further. She would have stopped it before it had gotten there though; there was no way in hell she would have gone through with it.

"Nice work, Emily."

This came from Agent Young, a redheaded agent in her thirties. She liked Agent Young quite a lot, mainly because she was a Pittsburgh Steelers fan like herself. Jenny, as was her first name, had recently gotten married and Emily had attended the wedding. The two weren't close friends, but they got along fairly well and had been on a few outings together, but mainly with other agents.

"Thanks, Jenny. I could get used to this luxury; it's very nice in here. Can I stay the night?"

The redhead laughed.

"I know it's nice, but they're throwing us out before Midnight."

Emily resisted the temptation to look at the clock.

"How's the marriage going?" she indicated at the ring.

"Pretty good, we're still in that honeymoon faze. I'll have to tell you about Antigua when we next meet up, it was absolutely amazing. But anyway, you can go now, nothing else to do, I'll expect you'll have a lot of paperwork to do tomorrow."

Emily made a sarcastic yes-motion.

"Captain Rogers is back, if that makes you feel any better. He's waiting for you outside."

That immediately made the brunette extremely happy.

"Anyway, I'll see you around, Jenny."

Emily was given a wave and a smile in response, giving her the signal to go. She swung the doors back opened and walked into the hall.

There he stood, Steve Rogers or Captain America to the rest of the world, leader of the Avengers. It felt like just yesterday since they'd started dating, but it had been over two years now. They were living together now, which was pretty cool, as he was an excellent room-mate, even if he was far too tidy for the fairly neat her. Emily was more New York-based but being a super soldier, Steve was sent all around the country and sometimes even the world, so she was used to not seeing him for days on end some of the time, but this didn't bother her, as she sometimes had to do the same. But she loved him, and that was all that mattered. It seemed cliché, but she never thought she'd be this lucky. She'd fully accepted that she might never find someone for the long-term, as was a common problem at SHIELD.

"Hey!" she beamed.

He looked up and smiled.

"Hey you," he reached out and pulled her into a hug, "You look beautiful."

It had been a couple of days since she'd seen him, as he'd been on a mission a couple of states away.

"Thanks," she blushed, never really able to get over the compliments he gave her. They joined hands and headed towards the stairs, not bothering to wait for the elevator.

"So, how was your assignment?"

He shrugged, "Boring, got the job done pretty quickly. Yours?"

"Well, I did get to dress up nicely and have free drinks, but I had to flirt with a guy my parents' age, which wasn't fun, especially since he was pretty creepy and ya know, a criminal. Having to invite some old fatcat into your 'hotel room?' Yeah, not fun."

She shuddered at the very recent memory.

He had to laugh a little at her- it was rather funny when she moaned about her work. Sure, she loved her job far too much and it had been her ambition since she was young, but she sometimes didn't like what she had to do.

As he listened to her complain about Hensridge, he went to feel in his pocket.

He didn't even know how or even when he was going to propose. He'd had the idea for a while, but he wanted to do it when it felt right. It was his mother's engagement ring, a simple gold band with a single diamond atop. The problem was that he didn't even know if it would fit Emily. He didn't her ring size and he wasn't exactly going to go out and blow the surprise by asking her. He didn't want to ask her best friend Claire or her fellow SHIELD agent and close friend Natalie, in case they said something. To be honest, Steve really wasn't planning on telling anyone apart from Emily's dad Tom, whom he would be asking for permission from. He was a traditional guy, so he wanted to ask for permission.

Emily must have noticed his quiet demeanour and immediately spoke.

"You okay? You're rather quiet."

He nodded, "Just thinking about stuff. I should be the one who's more worried if _you're _quiet."

She rolled her eyes and smacked his arm playfully. Even though the two of them were fairly opposite, they balanced each other out well. Whilst they were moral, loyal and intelligent, Steve was more reserved and gentle-hearted compared to the more impulsive and _extremely _quick-tempered and hot headed Emily. Even with all that, she was still a fairly good person.

As they tottered down the stairs, Emily yawned loudly.

"Gonna go to bed when we get home?"

The brunette looked down at Steve's watch and made a snort of disbelief.

"Honey, I think I'll be ok. Think I can start my 'Game of Thrones' marathon which I have been promising myself for a while but have not actually gotten round to. And if I get tired? Well, there's coffee for that, it'll keep me awake tomorrow."

"Coffee was not made to make up for a lack of sleep."

"Psh."

He shook his head.

"You're going to be a terrible influence on Jake when he grows up, you know that?"

Jake, named after the _Chinatown _character, was Emily's nephew, born over a year and a half ago to her brother Ethan and his wife, Kate. She was sure that her brother was a fantastic father and that he would be in the future too, but that was measured on whether Jake stayed a Steelers fan (he was pretty much born a fan, considering that his father, grandfather, aunt and great-uncle were all huge fans and gave the poor boy no choice in the matter), or Emily swore that she would no longer see herself related to the boy. Kate was pregnant again, with another child due to be born early next year, around February time. Emily loved sending over stuff for both Jake and his unborn sibling, to the point where Ethan probably wouldn't need to buy any clothes for his kids.

"Nah, I'll be a cool aunt. I'll teach him pranks and buy him beer and stuff."

Steve raised his eyebrows at her.

"Joke. Maybe."

They finally reached the bottom floor and as they passed the ballroom, Emily stared at it hungrily. Classical musical could be heard from it, with the couples dancing in their beautiful ballgowns and dashing tuxes. Emily was an avid dancer, having taken lessons for most of her child and teen life, so she absolutely adored anything to do with it.

"Can you imagine dancing there?" she sighed, "I bet it's amazing."

Part of her just wanted to run in there, but as a mature twenty-something, she knew that it was not an option and was totally unprofessional.

"How about I take you there soon?"

She turned round, internally jumping up and down.

"You would do that? I imagine it's not cheap."

"Maybe when we have something to celebrate," he kissed her temple.

"What do we have to celebrate?"

_An engagement, hopefully._

"When, I said when," he smiled as the music started to seemingly drift further away from them.

They walked silently for a while, admiring the deco of the beautiful, fancy hotel that was pretty much way out of their price range. Something Stark was used to, but not something that they could ever afford or even dream about.

"You should watch Game of Thrones with me tonight. You probably have nothing better to do and you can finally understand all the references Nat, Aaron and I make! I was whining to Uncle Phil the other day that you wouldn't watch it with me, but he just told me to get on with my work or he'd made me clean out Fury's office with my toothbrush."

He chuckled.

"You always whine to Coulson. And besides, you always make obscure movie references that literally no one understands, least of all me, I'm used to it now. Anyway, what is your obsession with that show?"

"I get obsessed with shows for a while; you should know that by now- it's just a phase. Well, I'm not sure about that, I do like the show. I mean, there are better shows but it is one of the best."

He rolled his eyes.

"Maybe."

She turned around and gave him her puppy eyes. He'd quickly learnt that he was immune to her puppy eyes, but Emily could be rather manipulative (for both the sides of good and bad), so he usually gave in just to keep her happy. She wasn't aware that her puppy eyes didn't work and he didn't plan to tell her.

"Please?"

He sighed and nodded.

"Fine, but only one. I have to put my foot down at one. We know what happened when you introduced me to a show last time, that didn't go down well."

Emily made another annoyed noise, mingled with happiness.

"Actually, it went fine for you, Mr. Peak of Human Physical and Mental Fitness, it was just me. I hate it what you're right, it happens far too often."

He tried listening as she garbled on about him being right all the time, which she supposed was good, but he just couldn't keep his mind off the proposal. They'd never really discussed marriage explicitly, not even after they'd moved in together. All he knew was that she was not opposed to marriage and had briefly stated she wouldn't mind getting married one day, but that had been quite a while ago and she might have changed her mind. Probably not, she would have said something by now. He had walked in on Emily and her best friend, Claire, talking about wedding dresses once but again, that was a while ago, not long after they'd started living together.

"Steve? Earth to Steve?"

He blinked to find her waving her hand in front of his face.

"Did you bring the car or the motorcycle?"

"Motorcycle."

She gave him another funny look.

"Are you sure you're okay? You're usually fairly quiet but this is quiet even for you. Plus, you're not even paying attention to me and you're all spaced out and stuff."

He nodded, keeping a firm grip on her hand.

"I'm fine, sweetheart, don't worry about it."

"Sure? You can talk to me about anything, you know."

"I know that, Em, but I promise that it's absolutely nothing, just thinking about stuff."

They walked back out into the cool evening, the motorcycle waiting at a side street. It suddenly Emily that her hair was probably going to get mussed up, something that she usually wasn't bothered about.

"Ready?" Steve asked.

After they had both settled down, they sped off back home.

**So, that was the first chapter of 'Fights and Flames.' This chapter underwent multiple changes, but I finally settled on this one due to the fact this story will focus on SHIELD as well as the pair's relationship. The last few chapters are fairly action packed. I personally like what I've planned for one of the later chapters the best. Sam Wilson will be appearing in this story quite a bit, as he is one of my favourite MCU characters and I love how his relationship with Steve was done in Winter Soldier.**

**Next time: Emily hangs out with her friends, but their laughter stops when something rocks theirs and SHIELD's world.**

**Thanks to everyone who took their time to read this and I hope to see you again soon xxx**


	2. Chapter 2

**DISCLAIMED**

**Thanks to everyone for the response for last chapter! x**

**Chapter 2**

Emily strolled down the SHIELD New York base ('The Bunk'), a cup of coffee ready in her hand. The reporters hadn't been wrong about the rain- it had been absolutely throwing it down when she and Steve had arrived at work. She'd never run so fast, ever, even in the middle of battle. Today was just paperwork, something she really detested.

The only thing getting her through that was her office buddies and SHIELD best friends, Natalie Tanner and Aaron Pierce. Last year, there had been a shake-up in the agency departments and the three were assigned to The Bunk and were actually allowed an office together. It was only small, but they all loved being together. The three were extremely close and the only arguments were concerning football between Aaron and Emily (she was a diehard Pittsburgh Steelers fan whilst he was loyal to the Cincinnati Bengals, two bitter divisional rivals). When not working, they usually just threw paper at each other or made use of the dartboard. They actually had a mini-tournament, with Natalie currently in the lead. If they were ever split up, they'd all be gutted because they always had so much fun.

She hadn't spent time with the two out of work for a while, as they'd all been busy with something or the other. Missions, assignments, etc. She wondered if they could all go for a drink in the evening. Yeah, that would be good. But then, she suddenly remembered that the Avengers and co were all going to be hanging out at Stark's. Oh well, maybe another night.

Whilst Emily was still technically Junior Liason Agent to the Avengers, she only worked with them when they were needed, as they all weren't actually bound to SHIELD. If they weren't needed, she worked on tying up loose ends and cleaning up after them. If that wasn't needed, she was just a regular field agent. It was the same story with her uncle, who was her Senior Liason. She did love working with the Avengers though, it was a great team. Stark, however annoying, he was could be pretty hilarious and as could Bruce, though his was more unintential with his hidden sarcasm and was not very annoying. Thor was adjusting to life on Earth, which was always entertaining. Plus, he was good guy, a great friend. Barton and Natasha still freaked her out after two years of working with her, but were still good friends to her nonetheless. She had to admit, she wasn't as close to them as she was to the other members.

She walked down the corridor to her office, wondering if she would be the first there. She usually was, as she was a strong believer in punctuality (well, it was more of the fact she was determined to succeed in her career). If Aaron got there first (that was rare, even though he was never late), she usually had a paper ball thrown at her as soon as she walked in. He had a ridiculously good aim, which was why Natalie and Emily were mastering the art of dodging. So far, it was not working, because of Aaron's sharp eye and quick throwing. They could spot it quickly, but avoiding it was way out of the question.

Maybe she could get Steve to teach her…

She turned the corner and finally found her office, opening the door to enter.

Natalie was already seated, typing away at her desk. She looked up as her friend entered.

"Morning," she smiled.

"Good morning," Emily smiled back. Natalie was a lot saner than Aaron and Emily, simply rolling her eyes at their antics. She was easily the most mature, not massively so, but more so than Emily, who was younger, albeit only by a few months. She'd be like the kinder, older sister who gave good advice. Though she'd never admit it, she saw Natalie as a sister, just like she did with Claire, though she probably just saw her as a best friend on an equal level. The two, outnumbering Aaron in the whole gender thing, often liked to tease and confuse him, which was always fun. It got to the point where he just muttered 'women' if they ever started on him, followed by him scrunching up a paper ball and throwing it at them. A couple of months ago, one of the probationary agents had gifted Aaron with a large notepad that they didn't want as a thank you to him for giving them tips on how to pass their physical exam (Aaron was extremely athletic and held a fair few records in that department, the second most after Steve). He didn't particularly need it, so he just used it to throw paper at the girls. Emily had actually arrived home a few times to find paper in her clothing. One time, she'd actually managed to find it in her shoe, still a mystery to her to this day.

She plonked herself down on her seat, turning her computer on. It would be a day of paperwork-fun. She had to write up her report on what happened yesterday and have it cross-referenced against all of SHIELD's records before she could file it, which always took forever. That's why she sometimes hated the field missions- she enjoyed them in general, but the missions, usually the long ones, meant several days of paperwork. She was yet to actually found someone who actually didn't mind paperwork- _everyone _hated it, even the seasoned senior agents. It was probably impossible to like it.

She drummed her fingers against her desk as she waited for the login to appear. It took several minutes to access the main network, as SHIELD had ridiculously high security measures concerning its computers, which was probably very necessary, especially with the rise in cyberterrorism. She took her coat off and placed it on the back of the chair, glad that The Bunk had excellent heating facilities, as well as air-con for summer.

"The forecaster wasn't wrong about the weather," Natalie nodded towards the window, the rain battering against it, quite audibly, in fact.

"I know, I hate it, it's so miserable and depressing," Emily agreed as the login appeared.

"I hate it more, I grew up in Arizona for crying out loud, I'm not used to rain," Natalie threw her head in her hands.

"You've lived in New York for five years; you should be used to it by now. Besides, you went to college in Tennessee; it's not nearly as warm as Arizona, is it?"

"It is fairly," Natalie disagreed, "Not a lot of rain, but I suppose it was a lot less than Arizona. Anyway, how was your weekend?"

"Alright, I suppose," Emily replied as she started up Word, "Undercover in a very nice hotel, rather fancy. Finally got Steve to watch 'Game of Thrones.'

Natalie raised an eyebrow, "How did that go?"

She shrugged, "Pretty well, he enjoyed it, we managed to get through the first two and if there's no missions, we'll probably watch a couple more. He said that he kind of understands my obsession with it, but it's probably not justified."

"Didn't it, ya know, make him uncomfortable? You know what he's like."

Emily made a little face.

"Nah, he was fine with it. He's not as naïve and concious as he was two years ago."

"That worked out well for you, I guess," Natalie retorted suggestively. Emily mouthed a shut up and threw a pen at her, which she quickly dodged. She was used to Aaron making crude comments about Steve and Emily's personal life, but not the mature Natalie.

"I hate you, you know that?"

"No you don't, you love me."

"Yeah, I suppose I do," Emily replied absent-mindedly as she began typing up their report.

They sat in silence for a while, typing up their respective reports and sipping their coffee. That all changed, however, when the door banged open and Aaron walked in, phone against his ear. He had a huge smile on his face as he headed straight to his desk, putting a hand in the air in greeting. The girls both exchanged smirks as Aaron swivelled around so that the back of his chair was facing them. Nodding at one another, they slipped away from their desk as quietly as possible.

"Yeah, I know, that's a great movie…eh, well, that one's not that great. How can you say that? Is it a woman thing, maybe, a lot of women like that movie?"

He laughed.

"Shut up! I thought you were supposed to be nice," he smirked, "Anyway, I'm free tonight, well, if I'm not working so how about dinner? Yeah, yeah, okay, how about tomorrow then?"

He listened in the phone for a second.

"Whatdya fancy?"

He listened again.

"There's a new Mexican place in Murray Hill, not far from me, just down the road in fact. Yeah, it's got great reviews, very good apparently, a friend of mine went their last week and he said it was very good. God, I haven't had Mexican food in a while, must have been last year since I had it."

He nodded, even though the person on the other end could not see him.

"Yeah, I'm not big on Thai food either. I'll have it if I have to, but if not…I won't bother. Nah, I wouldn't have it of my own accord. Japanese is my favourite, always has been, always will. Nothing better than a bit of sushi, is there?"

The two looked at one another before leaning forward, one person on each side.

"HI AARON!"

He jumped out of his skin, almost throwing the phone down in shock. Turning around in his chair, he swore at them.

"No, no, not you, the girls just sneaked up on me right now. Yep, Emily and Natalie."

He turned around and glared at them once again.

"Ok, see ya tomorrow. Bye."

He hung up and placed his phone on the desk.

"You two are awful, you know that?"

"We know," Emily confirmed with a smirk as the ladies sauntered off to their desks. As she sat down, Natalie moved her chair closer to the table and leaned on her elbows, head in hands as she grinned over in Aaron's direction.

"Was that Francesa by any chance?"

Aaron turned a deep shade of red and mumbled a 'maybe.'

Francesa was the girl Aaron had been seeing for a few months now, and he seemed quite serious about her. They didn't know anything about her, not a thing at all, apart from her name, obviously. They'd met when Francesca had stumbled walking down the street and Aaron had gone to help pick up her stuff. They'd hit it off and been dating ever since. He seemed to really like her, which was nice as his friends always wanted to see him happy.

"How long have you guys been together exactly?"

"About three months now," Aaron replied as he started typing in his password.

"Does she know who you actually work for?" Natalie wondered aloud.

"Nope, she thinks I work for a private security firm." To be honest, that was probably wise. Agents were advised to only tell immediate family and close friends who could be trusted whom they actually worked for. If anyone asked, Emily was a federal agent and that was it. The only people who knew she worked for SHIELD were her parents, grandparents, brother, sister-in-law and a handful of her closest friends. Those who did were sworn to secrecy. Even those who did know whom she worked for did not know what she actually did and she just told them that she mainly did 'investigative' work. They believed that her death was an accident and she was fine with that. Her neighbours often asked who she worked for, but she managed to skate around it. The fact that she'd managed to keep it secret for the five years since she'd lived in the building was pretty impressive. Well, to her, anyway.

"And why haven't we met her yet?" Emily prompted.

"Because she knows all about you," he retorted, "I don't think it will be a good idea."

"Oh, we'll be nice to her, just not to you," the brunette grinned as she leaned back in her chair, a pencil resting against her chin, "Oh so many stories, so little time. We've got the time you took advantage of the bottomless drinks deal at Pizza Hut or the time on the Subway to Brooklyn…"

Aaron went red as Natalie burst out laughing.

"Collins, you are probably the biggest user of blackmail and bribery I've ever had the misfortune of meeting. I have absolutely no clue why you are one of my best friends."

"I'm one of your best friends?" she put a hand to her heart, "Awww. Cutie."

"Shut it, or I will tell Steve about the time you got _really _drunk at that Super Bowl afterparty two years ago. Remember that, in London, in that pub?"

She rolled her eyes at him.

"Aaron, Steve knows all about that. I had too much to drink at one of Stark's parties and kind of told him on the way home. I'm not even that bothered that he knows, I probably would have told him of my own accord eventually."

He cursed under his breath.

"Fine, fine," he suddenly perked up, "I'll tell him about the time you got lost in that small town in Texas."

Emily gasped in shock.

"You wouldn't!"

Aaron nodded in affirmation, "Oh, you know I would."

He turned back to his computer, which suddenly bleeped. Confused, he furrowed his brow as the screen started flashing random colours.

"Hey, my computer's gone funny."

"That's weird, so has mine." Emily's was doing the exact same thing and she furiously pushed random buttons in order to hopefully rectify it. Not a second later, a third bleep sounded, this time coming from Natalie's computer.

"Maybe there's a glitch in the system," Natalie suggested as she started thwacking it at the side. None of them were exactly computer literate.

But then, something appeared on their screens. Something they did not expect…a face.

The three of them gasped simultaneously.

The face was not exactly clear, shrouded in shadow. Only part of their features were visible to those watching- nothing was exactly clear.

"Good morning, SHIELD. If all has gone according to plan, this is being transported onto every screen at the agency. I'll give you all a minute to get comfortable- this may take a while."

The voice was low and raspy, as indistinguishable accent. Emily and Natalie slid from their desks so they could go watch it all together on Aaron's. How the hell did someone get over SHIELD's security systems? But more importantly- who the hell was this?

"I think that was enough time. To the technicians, don't bother trying to override this, you won't succeed. We have the best technical team on our side, far superior to even yours. I guess many of you are wondering who I am. That, I won't reveal. But I can tell you that I belong to an organisation many of you may have heard of. That organisation is HYDRA."

Emily went pale, Natalie's hand flew to her mouth and Aaron's eyes popped open. All around, they could practically hear the shockwaves ripple through SHIELD. Emily's mind immediately went to Steve. How would he be reacting to this? Reacting to the news that the organisation that he thought had disappeared with him was very up and active? This would not go well and she resolved that as soon as the broadcast was finished, she would rush off and find him.

"Yes, HYDRA. We did not die after World War 2. In fact, we grew stronger!" there was no mistaking the pride and excitement in the man's tone, "We saw the light, abandoned the leadership that was leading us to despair and rose up from the ashes, and became a stronger force. A force that will change the shape of the universe. We are the only key that humanity needs to unlock its future. Those who have joined us have seen the light; they understand that HYDRA is the future. The freedom of the human race is just an illusion, you all crave security. We intend to give the world this. But first, we need to take care of a few loose ends."

The three stood there, transfixed.

"SHIELD stands in our way. We intend to rectify this. Your organisation is weak, easy to crack and that's what we intend to do…crack you, break you, stop you. Your agency may think that you are doing the right thing by fighting back, but you are weak and foolish. Every man, woman and child who stands in our way will be eradicated; we have no qualms about that. SHIELD falls in this category. As a united front, we will do all in our power to destroy you. You may think you have the strength, but the men and women in our ranks have the intelligence and independence to flatten you. It may be a day, it may be a week, but you will be destroyed, there is no doubt about that. We have had the upper hand from the very beginning, but you have not seen what is right under your nose. You ignore what is obvious and this is your downfall. You do not believe the power we have and this brings you to your knees. Nicholas Fury, you may think that you are leading a world power, but your organisation is crumbling. You have failed, Nick, you have failed as a director. You will fight, but you are nowhere as strong as you think you are."

The room was so quiet that you could hear a pin drop. Every heart beat rapidly against the chest of the agents as they watched the drama unfold.

"Captain Rogers, I now speak directly to you."

Oh crap.

"I have not had the pleasure of meeting you but I am sure that I soon will. I do know, however, that you will do everything in your power to stop us. Your determination is strong; something that we at HYDRA believe is an admirable trait. But, your Super Soldier status does not make you invincible. But you should know something- everything you do will be fruitless. Every bullet you shoot against us, every punch you throw in our face will not get you any step closer to defeating us. It will not get you far. I am sure that you are probably furious. Well, that is your loss. Nothing you will do will stop us making a new world, a world where HYDRA leads a glorius revolution. The sins of your fathers are great. Your sin was to fight against us initially and you are by far our greatest enemy, as a fighter against us and an ally of SHIELD. We make this clear: we will destroy you. There is no escaping your destiny, we have foreseen this. Your team, the friends who fight against you, will also not be successful. The people who you love, well, they are just collateral damage to us. In fact, no, we deem them necessary. The SHIELD agent, Collins, who holds your heart, well, she's just necessary damage to us. As is your beloved team."

Aaron and Natalie's eyes swivelled to her, turning to look at her as her heartbeat increased tenfold. She'd just been threatened, pretty much directly, by an international terrorist organisation who were deluded enough to think they were superior. Well, woo-hoo, lucky her.

"I'll leave you to your thoughts, SHIELD. You'll hear from us soon. HAIL HYDRA!"

With that, the transmission cut off and the computers returned to their login screen.

The three of them stood there, frozen in shock.

"Holy Christ, that is not good," Aaron was first to break the silence.

"Far from it," Natalie breathed out, turning to Emily, "Are you alright?"

She nodded, even though inside, she was pretty terrified. As a SHIELD agent, she was supposed to be strong and tough, but considering whom she was being threatened by. They had threatened the Avengers, her friends and her uncle, all just because they were SHIELD. The Avengers were her friends. She couldn't imagine Natalie and Aaron getting hurt.

Or maybe she was just overreacting- they didn't know the extent of HYDRA. Oh, who was she kidding?

Just as they started to recover, the door banged open and Coulson entered. Unlike usual, worry was etched on his face and he was far from calm. This was the most scared she'd ever seen him, even at work when they usually faced some strong enemies. He walked straight over to Emily and instead of stopping; he enveloped her in a tight hug.

"Uncle Phil?"

"You okay, Em?"

"Uncle Phil, they pretty much threatened everyone; more people have a right to be scared than me."

"Well, that is a valid point but you were pretty much singled out there. Besides, you're my niece."

He pulled away from her and turned to the others, who were looking at him with curious eyes.

"There'll be a meeting after all senior agents are briefed, just wait til then," he instructed them before going back to Emily, "Come with me, we'll go find the others, they're all in today."

He took her by the wrist and led her from the room. All throughout the corridors, personnel gathered in pairs and small groups, discussing the events, not a smile on their face. Those who looked up stared at Emily until she was gone, but most just ignored them, too immersed in their conversations.

As they headed along the hallway, another agent walked into step with Coulson.

"Fury will be back within the hour," she told him as they headed towards where the Avengers are gathered, "We believe that he will brief all the seniors, followed by personnel. You will be called when he is back, after you've spoken with the Avengers."

"Thanks, Agent Moore," he nodded at her before she turned the corridor.

They headed up several more flights of stairs before getting to the right corridor. Coulson pulled the door open for Emily first, letting her go ahead of him before following. Waiting several paces, she finally found the right room and headed straight in.

Barton and Natasha were sat together, heads bowed, deep in conversation. From what it sounded like, on the opposite side, Bruce was explaining about HYDRA to Thor, who knew little about it. Stark, who obviously knew about them from his father, was clutching a coffee glass at the end nearest the door, vaguely listening in on what Bruce and Thor were talking about.

Steve sat at the end, turned away from the rest of them. He was looking down at his hands, away from the others. She couldn't imagine how the hell he could be feeling. Everything he'd fought against, everything he'd lost to, it all came swirling back. He'd gotten some ideas that HYDRA were back, but because of a lack of evidence, the idea had fallen through and they had both believed that it was no longer active. They'd forgotten about it, just gotten on with their lives.

Everyone looked up as she approached. She met each of their eyes. She didn't know how scared they were, but they had more of a right to be. They'd been mentioned in the speech and all knew that they would be targeted.

But she didn't care about them, not at the moment anyway, not now. Walking quietly over to her boyfriend, she placed a calming hand on his shoulder.

"Steve?" she asked gently.

He turned around at her touch. Standing up, he gently wrapped his arms around her, his chin resting at the top of her head. But the hug indicated how he felt- he was clinging to her like a lifeline, like he just had to hold onto something or he'd drown. For some reason, Emily was clinging back, desperately seeking the security he offered.

"I just can't believe they're back."

"I know, baby, I know."

He released her from the hug, but still kept an arm wrapped firmly around her. Anger bubbled through his veins over the fact that HYDRA was still out there. They were going to hurt his friends and his girl; they'd gone too far this time. No-one threatened his friends.

"So what are we going to do?" Bruce asked, taking his glasses off and fiddling with them.

"All of SHIELD's manpower priorities will go into this," Barton stated, standing up and circling the room, "Fury will want everything we've got to go into defeating them. He's going to stop at nothing and by default, which means us too."

"Damn right," Steve spoke up, venom in his tone, "They went too far this time. They threatened the girl I love and all of you guys, and I will stop at nothing to make sure that those bastards get whatevers coming to them."

"I agree," Emily added in, "They've threatened this organisation. That means they want to hurt you guys and I know for a fact that there is no way in hell I want that to happen. I won't be able to handle it if anything happened to any of you, or to Nat or Aaron or Skye or anyone else."

"No one messes with this team," Stark added.

"This HYDRA is disgusting and immoral and is ready to hurt my comrades in arms," Thor sounded incredibly angry, "I will not allow this to happen."

Tension filled the room. No one really knew how to react with this. Thor didn't really know what HYDRA was and Bruce only knew that the others had told him, which was not a lot. Stark had heard a lot from his father, who had obviously helped the fight against them back in the day. The actual agents had varying degrees of knowledge about it, especially Emily, who'd heard pretty much everything about them from Steve. Without him, she probably wouldn't have known a lot.

"So what do we do?" Natasha looked between Coulson and Steve. Whilst Steve was the leader of the Avengers and most definitely the leader of the fight against HYDRA, Coulson was acknowledged as the most senior member of the team and was technically in charge. Basically, it was a toss between the two of them concening who gave orders.

The SHIELD agent looked around the room before making his commands.

"Pull up everything we've got on HYDRA. I'm talking potential threats, people who are believed to be associated them, events that could have been put on by them. Now that we know they're active, a lot of stuff can be pinned on them. Over the next few days, more evidence will come out. We've got loads of attacks and crimes and stuff that were never solved, but they could be now. It won't be straight away, but this will most definitely be our priority. Fury was out on a conference but I guess he's going to be taken to the nearest base, which is here. When he does, there's gonna be a lot of meetings but as soon as they're done, get straight back here. We've got protocols in place when serious, serious stuff happens and this is on level with Loki and New York, and it may get worse. So, let's go."

Everyone stood up and started knocking about on the screens. A silence fell over the group- nobody knew what to say. As Emily pulled up some results, she looked over at Steve out of the corner of her eye. He looked completely awful, his eyes subdued. There was no doubt in her mind- tonight was going to be rough. Both Emily and Steve suffered from nightmares, even though hers were nowhere as bad as his, and were a lot less frequent. Steve's came from his war experiences and from being awoken from the ice. He often woke up at night, panting and sweating from the intensity on the dreams. They were sometimes really upsetting, but he kept it hidden from everywhere else.

He caught her eye and she gave him what she hoped was a comforting smile. In response, he gave her a slight grimace before turning back to his work.

"This sucks, doesn't it?"

She turned her head slightly to look at Barton, who tapped the screen behind her.

"Yup, very."

She paused for a moment, before turning back to him.

"Hey, Barton?"

"Yeah?"

"When was the last time there was a huge priority like this? I mean, apart from the whole Loki-Tesseract-Helicarrier- New York shananza. No, shananza's not the right word, well; it isn't actually a word is it? Ok, how about situation?"

The archer rolled his eyes. He liked Emily, he supposed, but their personalities clashed a fair bit.

"I've been at SHIELD for well over ten years and this is the first one I've experienced."

She went back to pulling up the files. There was a surprising amount of evidence in favour of HYDRA's activity, but them being hidden away and all did not help anything. Like her uncle had said, a lot of stuff was going to be linked with the organisation. She didn't know whether this made her glad or sad. It was good that there was closure, for all agents, families and friends. But then it proved what HYDRA had done, the sort of horrible things they'd done under the cover of security. None of them understood how they'd managed to stay under the radar, how none of them, present company included, had worked it out. Sure, Steve had worked some stuff out but he'd eventually given up, thinking that he'd been wrong. He was much closer than they had been, but still hadn't figured it all out.

After what seemed (and probably was) hours, the announcer buzzed.

"All personnel will report according to their ranks. All those with Level 1 and 2 clearance will report to Conference Room A, with all those who are 3 in Conference Room B. Level 4, head to the assembly room whilst everyone who is Level 5 should head to the atrium. All Level 6 agents should head to the second floor auditorium. Anyone else refer to the Comms room for further instruction."

The transmission shut off.

"So, where do we go?" Bruce indicated between himself, Stark and Thor. The three of them were technically consultants, so they had no real rank.

"As Avengers, you'll be with the rest of us," Coulson replied.

So they'd all be together, save for Emily, who was of a lower rank than the others. Fortunately for her, the second floor auditorium was literally just down the hall. Those who were sat down immediately got up and they all scuttled out of the room. As Emily bid goodbye to her friends and went to go in the opposite direction, Steve took her by the hand and gently cupped her face in a soft kiss.

"I'll see you later."

"See ya," she smiled, feeling slightly giddy. Waving a slight goodbye to her friends, she walked down the corridor and up to the door, scanning her ID card and fingerprint.

Agent Moore looked up from her notes as Emily walked in and nodded at her.

"Agent Collins."

"Agent Moore."

Donna Moore was without a doubt one of the scariest people at SHIELD. A tall, robust woman in her early 50's with jet black hair and dark eyes, she turned even the hardest of agents to jelly with her glare. Her adventures were the stuff of legends and there were more rumours about her than the Yeti itself. She, and Coulson, were Fury's favourites, even if he didn't admit it. Emily was terrified of her and never questioned her orders. She was scared of her, but trusted her a lot.

She waited patiently as agents started to trickle in. She'd been glad to have been promoted to Level 6, she just felt so much more important than she had at Level 5. She'd found out more stuff, but was still left in the dark when Steve left for missions for days on end. It did annoy her that she couldn't know anything, but as it had been drummed in to her, she had to trust the system.

She scoured around the room for her friends. Several agents nodded at her and a few mumbled 'hello's' with a couple maintaining a short conversation. Heads turned her way and she knew that more than a few whispers were about her.

After a short while, Natalie and Aaron walked in and she waved them over. They smiled and rushed over, sitting on either side of her.

"Hey," she greeted them.

"Hi. Did you find the others?"

She nodded, "Yeah, we did, spent a while looking through old files."

"How did Steve take it?"

She sighed and leaned back, "Not too well, he's worried sick, I can tell and he's determined to beat them- we all know that he'll stop at nothing to stop them. We were all really quiet during the meeting but Steve spoke about twice at the beginning and that was it. This is going to be so horrible for him; I just can't imagine how he's going to be feeling. I'll have to talk to him in private, when we get home, he'll hopefully open up more then."

"Agents, if I could have your attention…"

She shrugged as she focused her eyes on the screen.

**So, HYDRA is back. Obvious, I know, but I had the idea before CA: WS. I think the way they did it was way better than my idea, but well, this fits in with the story better. Their reasons for revealing themselves will be revealed in later chapters.**

**By the way, Guardians of the Galaxy is brilliant. I saw it the other day and it was absolutely hilarious, everyone was laughing out loud. Really unexpected, so different to everything Marvel's ever done. It's so different compared to the film that came before it (CA: WS).**

**Next time: It's a training session, they meet some new team members and there's some bonding.**

**Thanks to everyone who read this and hope to see you again soon xxx**


	3. Chapter 3

**DISCLAIMED**

**Thanks for all your support x**

**Chapter 3**

Emily stared out of the car window as she headed to work.

Steve hadn't said more than two words to her ever since they'd got in the car home during the previous evening. As soon as they'd got back to their apartment, he'd headed straight into the bedroom and stayed in there for nearly the entire night. He'd stayed with her for dinner, but not said anything and as soon as they were done, he headed away. The only time she'd heard him was when he'd gone to have a shower. Eventually, when she crawled into bed, he'd let her cuddle up to him and mumbled an 'I love you,' before drifting off as well. She'd gotten a 'morning' out him when they'd woken up, but nothing more since then.

The radio was on in the background and Steve was driving, an emotionless expression. She hadn't a clue how she was feeling and didn't pretend to. Everything he'd worked for, gone down the drain. An organisation ready to strike at the heart of SHIELD, they were threatening the loved ones of many, but it his him hardest.

He turned into The Bunk car park, going through the usual procedure of being checked. He glanced at her briefly and she gave him a soft smile, something which he returned. However, his looked more strained, more forced than hers did. He turned into a spot and shut off the ignition, the radio sound dying with it. However, instead of getting out straight away, he sat there, staring out of the window.

"You go ahead, sweetheart, I'll join you in a minute."

She took a deep breath.

"You had a nightmare last night, didn't you?"

"Yep."

"So did I."

He turned to her fully.

"What was yours about?"

She sighed, "The base was being attacked. Everyone was fighting, but nothing was being done. There were bodies everywhere…you, Uncle Phil, Nat, Aaron, the team. I tried shooting, but nothing came out of my gun. They dodged every hit and punch, just like they said in the video. I just had to watch your lifeless bodies; eyes widen open with blood everywhere. It was horrible, I woke up in tears."

She felt tears in her eyes at that very moment.

"What about yours?" she turned to him.

"Same kind of thing. It was at HYDRA's old base- Schmidt was there, so was Zola. But for some reason, Schmidt had the voice of the guy from the transmission and so did Zola. Everyone was there, dead on the ground. It wasn't just the team- there was Wilson and…Bucky. You were there, right at Schmidt's feet. Just like yours, it was horrible."

Noticing how upset the other looked, they linked hands. Steve squeezed hers gently, in a comforting manner. He felt bad for barely speaking to her or anyone for that matter, all day, but he just felt so…well, he didn't know what he felt. The problem was that there was no one to talk to about it. No one understood what he was going through. It sounded selfish, but that was the truth. There was no one, alive anyway, that knew what it felt like. He was scared, scared of what they would do to his loved ones. He was scared of that, but not of them. But he was determined to bring HYDRA down. There was no one braver than him and he would fight until there was no longer any breath in his body, until his heart was no longer beating. He hoped that it wouldn't come to that.

"Shall we?"

Steve nodded and they both exited the vehicle, both wearing gym gear. The team was doing a gym session, which always proved to be super interesting. They'd been assigned two more agents to help with the team. Said agents had undertaken a lie-detector test to prove that they were trustworthy, and it seemed that it had been proven. Emily had hopes for both who it would and wouldn't be. It was specified if they would be young or old, so she was praying that it would be Natalie and/or Aaron. God, that would be a laugh, but the team would get hell, they weren't a good combination. Well, this time they would actually get their heads down and work considering the current situation.

As soon as they started walking towards the building, Steve put an arm around Emily. It was another silent walk into the building. Everyone around them seemed wrapped up in their own little world, not a person was chatting to another. The R&D specialists were running around, waving weapon ideas in the air, with scientists trailing after them. Agents rushed around, ready to be sent to fight suspected HYDRA at a moment's notice. The longest a person stopped was to get a drink by the water cooler, and that did obviously not take very long. Whilst SHIELD had always been a dedicated organisation, it was troubling to see everyone like this. No doubt that it would be the same at the Triskelion, the Treehouse, The Hub and other SHIELD locations. Fury had pulled out mandatory lie-detector tests for EVERYONE, regardless of rank to make sure that they weren't sleeper agents. Emily was unsure why HYDRA had actually announced themselves like that, because they had to know that Fury would have plans for this. Unless they had a plan, which they most likely did.

They turned into the gym, where everybody else was already present. Both automatically went to see who the two agents were.

Emily automatically did a little happy dance when she saw the first- Agent Tamworth, Paul to his friends. He was by far one of her all time favourite agents, and probably her favourite senior if she didn't include her uncle. Tamworth hadn't been her SO, but he'd been one of the agents who'd helped train her. Around the time Emily had joined, he'd been injured so he'd focused on training. It wasn't a terrible injury, but it was enough to keep him off the field for a while. Emily had never met a funnier person in her entire life. He was actually funnier than Evans, one of her best friends in middle/high school, and that was a pretty good achievement in her book. Tamworth had been seriously injured in New Mexico, but had made a full recovery after fighting for his life.

But her happiness ended when she laid eyes on Blake.

She hated Blake, absolutely despised him, and the negative feelings were pretty much mutual. She thought that he was far too serious, stern and just generally mean, whilst he regarded her as far too impulsive and stubborn. The only reason why she hadn't given him a piece of her mind was because he was a superior officer; otherwise, he would have had it by now.

Steve removed from his arm around her, kissing her on the cheek, and went off to stretch off on his own. As she walked over to her uncle and Blake, she caught wind of their conversation.

"…Tamworth should not be on this team, considering everything," Blake was saying.

"What's wrong with Tamworth?" she asked, stopping in front of them.

Coulson sighed and nodded at Blake.

"You remember Agent Matthews, Collins?"

She nodded.

"Yes, she was my SO. I attended her funeral earlier in the year, I was sorry that she died."

Agent Sadie Matthews had been her SO and also happened to be Tamworth's partner. Earlier in the year, whilst investigating a rather mysterious case, she'd been murdered whilst going home to her apartment in DC, right after she'd left her car. One bullet to the head, killed instantly. There had been no evidence about who had done it, not a trace. Tamworth had been inconsolable- the two had been extremely close, more than partners- best friends. Emily had sat behind him at the funeral and she had seen first-hand how upset he was, not even hiding his tears.

"What about her?"

"It's too early to tell," Coulson looked around to see if anyone was listening, "But we have reason to believe that HYDRA was involved. We got some new evidence last night."

Emily gasped in shock.

"Those bastards. Does Tamworth know?"

Blake nodded.

"It is terrible and yes he does. It is my belief that Tamworth should not be helping this team. His motivation for revenge will blind him, it will cloud his judgement. Whilst I don't often believe that Fury is wrong, I think he may have made a mistake here, even if he is a trusted agent."

She frowned, disagreeing.

"But he's proved that he is a trusted agent, has he not?"

"Well, yes, he has," Blake had to agree with her there, "But his willingness for revenge against the killers, well, potential killers of his partner is going to blind him. He will make irrational decisions; do stupid things that will endanger the nature of missions. Agents with that much of a personal bond to the mission should not be involved. Yes, I understand that HYDRA may have killed many personnel, friends of other agents, but this is Tamworth we're talking about it. He's out for blood and won't stop until he gets it. Personal attachments do not belong at SHIELD."

Part of what Blake was saying was true, but the way he said it…

"Was that a jab at myself and Steve?" Emily immediately went on the defensive.

Coulson opened his mouth to stop her, but he was beaten to the punch.

"Personal relationships on teams are a bad idea, especially concerning key players. It promotes an unprofessional element."

Emily's temper was already boiling point.

"Are you saying that we're unprofessional?"

Blake shook his head.

"Not exactly."

"Well, I believe that you are. Our relationship is none of your business and neither of us is unprofessional. Whilst we do put our friends and loved ones above all, we never let this compromise our missions. HYDRA will continue to hurt us, so all of the agency will be out for revenge, maybe some more than others, but we are all in the same boat."

The two were locked into a death glare.

"Ok, Em, that's enough," Coulson stopped her.

She opened her mouth to shoot another strong reply, but a hand on her shoulder stopped her. She turned to her uncle, who gave her a warning look. He always noticed when she got angry- the signs were easy for him to spot. When she was about to erupt, he was the only one who could calm her down- not even Steve could stop her from losing her temper. Right now, she was displaying the tell-tale signs of her face going red, her chest heaving, her mouth going into a thin line and her fists clenching.

"Emily, go and get warmed up. Now."

He removed his hand and she gave him a kind smile before turning on her heel, but not before giving Blake another death glare.

She looked around for someone to work with and soon laid eyes upon Tamworth. It had been a while since she'd seen him- the last time had been the funeral, in fact, and that had been in January. He'd been assigned to the Triskelion for a while, up to a year before the funeral. She'd managed to sneak from her hospital room and visit him back in New Mexico, where he'd been very badly injured, to the brink of death. Unfortunately, one of the nurses had found her and dragged (literally) back to her room.

Concentration was etched on his face as he did his press-ups. There was obvious pain there- the hurt in his eyes was so obvious- it seemed that he was thinking about his dead partner. Tamworth and Matthews were one of the most notoriously close partnerships in the agency, even more so than Barton and Natasha. They'd been partners for over fifteen years, a record within the agency. When members of close partnerships or teams died, then things changed.

She stopped in front of him.

"Hey sir, mind if I join you?"

Tamworth dropped to his chest and looked up, smiling at the young woman.

"Course Collins, always like seeing my favourite junior agent."

"I'm sure you say that to all your junior agents," she retorted as she sat down next to him, stretching her legs out.

"True, true, think I said that to Pierce when I encountered him down the corridors the other day. Well, I can't really remember. I'd been drinking, found a great bar in Queens. Had the _best _whisky I've ever had, probably not the best for a Monday afternoon."

She sometimes couldn't believe that this hard-drinking man was one of the best agents at SHIELD, but he was pretty sure that he was joking at this point. Well, at least she hoped he was.

"What were you doing in Queens? You live in Brooklyn."

"Well, can't I have friends outside of Brooklyn?" he shot back as he bent his legs forward, "Don't you know anyone outside of Manhattan?"

Actually, Emily really didn't.

"Well, no, actually," she admitted, kind of bashfully, "Everyone I know bar a few lives in Manhattan and those who don't I only know through work or a few encounters, not people I'd visit."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Well, you need to broaden your horizons outside of Manhattan, you do. Actually, Sadie used to say…"

He suddenly stopped talking as he thought of his beloved dead partner. They stretched off in painful silence for a while. Emily saw the look in his eyes and decided that after offering brief condolonces, she would say no more on the matter.

"I heard that it may have been HYDRA who had killed her, I'm sorry."

Tamworth's face immediately hardened, a look of pure anger and disgust radiating from his career-beaten face. He clenched his fists, much like Emily's did when she got angry, as he sat down and started moving his body from side to side.

"Bastards. I won't stop til I get every one of them, I won't stop til every single one of them is dead or captured, preferably dead. They killed my partner, the best friend I'd ever known. It wasn't even in combat, it was in cold blood, a single assassination. Left her body for what could have been kids to see, disgusting, absolutely disgusting. Yes, she was an agent and there's always danger, but there was no need. Just because she was getting close to closing the damned case. Ready to go home and relax, but she never quite got to the front door. I will never forget seeing her body, indentifying it in the morgue. That will haunt me forever, seeing my Sadie dead."

Emily shuddered at the thought.

"I can't imagine it…"

Tamworth shrugged, "Don't think you could. I suppose you imagined it with your uncle, but he turned up alive eventually. Even after all the heartache, you got your uncle back. But Sadie will never be back."

The brunette grimaced.

"I remember how protective she was of me. I had this date once, can't remember her name now, think it was Karen. She 'accidentally' bumped into me at the restaurant and introduced herself to Karen. Made sure she had her badge out, sure as hell intimidated Karen. Practically ran out of the place at the end of the date, hailed a cab, refused my offer to take her home."

They both started laughing at the thought. Matthews had always been an able agent, but she was also very warm and caring, very protective of her loved ones. In another life, she could have been a teacher or worked with the elderly.

"My dad's the same; he's very protective of me and my older brother. Anytime we brought someone home, he'd give them the ninth degree and would act all cold until he decided that he liked them, and then he'd soften up a bit, but never a lot. He was fine with my sister-in-law, but then again, she's pretty much the nicest person in the entire world, never a bad word about anyone. When they first met Steve, he not so subtly threatened him and later on, he pulled me aside and made me swear on the Steelers that I would kick Steve's ass if he ever hurt me- just like a 'real federal agent.' Probably a bit mean on his part, but he's usually a pretty good guy."

Tamworth sniggered.

"Poor Rogers, bet he didn't know what hit him."

"I felt sorry for him, but it was kind of funny."

"Did I ever tell you the story of my dad, my little sister and her boyfriend?"

She shook her head, now very curious. Tamworth was one of six children, born on a farm and his stories were always fascinating. He and his siblings had been little rascals and she massively admired his parents for handling them so well.

"Ok, so my littlest sibling, Bobbi brought home this guy from college. He was a real fancy lad, full of airs and graces, acted like was something he was not. Really put his nose up at as, thought we were just some country hicks. Richard, his name was. Real hot-shot he was, did lacrosse and all the sports. So he sits in my living room, my dad and ma were there, along with me, Bobbi and the oldest Russell. He starts going on about all his achievement, clearly thought he was superior. He was a track star, best runner in the state, won loads of inter-school mumbo jumbo. So my dad turns to him, looks him dead in the eye and says 'what can you outrun?' It's then he starts spouting off about some track stars at their college whom he could outrun, including the coach who used to be a world champion or US champion. Sure that it was a load of bullshit. My father excuses himself for a minute, saying that he needed to get something. A couple minutes later, he returns with this box. Opens it up, hands it to Richard. The smug look on his face vanished when he saw the picture and the trophy at the top. He looks at the photo; think he recognised it straight away. The engraving on the trophy? John Tamworth, World Champion, 400m and 800m from the years 1956 to 1958. Richard was all shocked, so dad turned to him and goes "before you act like you've got something up your ass, look at who you're dealing with. Cos running ain't the only thing I'm good at. Grew up on a farm, live on one now. My rifle is a bit rusty, sure it probably needs using.' That's when he gets his Smith and Wesson and hangs one of his medals over it. He used it as a centerpiece for a week. Glorius."

"Your dad was John Tamworth? I've heard of him!"

Tamworth nodded, smiling with pride.

"How come you never mentioned him?"

He shrugged, "Just never felt the need. Not a lot of people have heard of him."

"Well, I've only heard of him cos my grandad mentioned him once or twice. But wow, he sounds like a badass. Would your dad have used the gun?"

Tamworth shook his head.

"Nah, not unless Richard did something illegal. His rifle was for safety, and that was it. He would have only ever used it for work or defense."

"Where's your dad living now? Still on the farm?"

"God, no. Died, about ten years ago, heart attack."

She went white, "Oh crap, sorry, I didn't know."

Before Tamworth could tell her that it was ok, they were all called back to circle together. As the two agents approached the group, he whispered something in her ear and they both simultaneously burst out laughing, stealing a few glances at Blake, who looked highly unimpressed at the fact it was probably about him. Everyone was looking at them. Aware of this, they struggled to stop.

"Alright, you two," Coulson glared at them both, "Stop it. Right, we're gonna pair up for a bit, just do some fight drills, and then it's circuit training after lunch. I know that doesn't seem like a good idea, but we need to all be at our physical peaks in the fight against HYDRA. This will be our last training session for a while. So, ok pairs, we've agreed on Barton and Blake, Thor and Tamworth, Stark and me, Natasha and Steve then Bruce and Em. We'll swap round a couple of times before the end. That ok?"

Everyone nodded and went off in their pairs. Emily followed Bruce to the corner. It had been a while since she'd seen him, so she guessed that it was nice to have a catch-up. The evening at Stark's had been cancelled so she hadn't seen him then. The scientist had been working abroad after being invited on a conference about physics, followed by him spending time working with some other top physists. Apparently it was a big deal or something, as Stark was extremely jealous about the whole affair.

"Hey Bruce," she smiled as they stopped near the punching bags.

"Hi, Emily."

They stood there awkwardly for a while. She didn't really understand why Bruce was actually doing fight training with them- wouldn't he just go green when needed? He always did for a battle, which was the reason why he was an Avenger. A lot of people thought that it was the only reason why he was at SHIELD too, but they always forgot about his scientific method.

"I don't mean to offend you, but what exactly would you be needing fight training for if you would just become the… 'Other Guy' when needed?"

He shrugged.

"Got told to do it, got nothing else to do apart from scientific stuff, but even then, I'm an Avenger beforehand. Suppose if anything ever happened to me and I didn't want to get angry, say if I was in public, it would probably help if I had some hand-to-hand combat. It's the same for Stark really; he took up training so that nothing would happen if he was without his suits."

She nodded.

"Er, shall we box first or something?" she suggested.

He nodded in agreement and they both went to get boxing gloves from the side. The two walked over to the state-of-the-art boxing ring, which had been recently touched-up for the thousandth time that year, maybe even that month. They slid under the ropes and went into the middle.

They started off slowly.

"So, er, how was India?"

Bruce actually looked very happy when she brought that up, so she guessed that he enjoyed it.

"I actually really enjoyed it; there were some very esteemed names at the conference. Won't mention their names, you won't know any of them and I doubt you'd care. It was really interesting; there was a lot of interest on my anti-collision theories. There was this woman called Megan who had some fantastic notes on atoms, we got along really well."

Emily smirked.

"Ooh, is someone getting a little action?" she prodded him on the arm with her boxing glove.

Bruce went red.

"No, we were just friends, she was a nice woman though, and I liked her a lot."

Emily wiggled her eyebrows.

"Did you get her number, Mr. Scientist Casanova?"

"Yes, I did, but it was for purely scientific purposes. Besides, she's South African, lives in Johannesburg. Well, she is moving to a town in Spain, near Rota to do some research there."

"Long-distance relationship, I like it. Does she have a last name?"

"Kelson and before you ask, which I know you will, she does have a doctorate."

Emily made a mental note to Google her later. Actually, scratch that, she intended to search her on the SHIELD database later on, that would probably have more information. It sounded a bit stalker-ish, she knew, but she just wanted to check up on her. Knowing Bruce, he was probably right, and it was just a friendship, nothing romantic of anything.

She looked around the room to see what everyone else was doing. Coulson was currently teaching Stark some moves, with Thor and Tamworth not far on their left, practicing strength before they started fighting each other. There was probably no need for Thor to practice fighting either, unless he suddenly lost his powers, like when he had arrived on Earth first. Natasha and Steve were already practicing, their moves far too impressive, like something out of a movie. Barton and Blake were talked amicably. It was probably wise to put them together- they would actually get on, kind of.

"So, you been up to much while I was gone?" asked Bruce as they continued boxing.

She shrugged, "Not much really, the usual. Went to a few discussions at the Chelsea Classic, so great, I absolutely love finding like-minded people who appreciate films like me. Went to an exhibition game with Uncle Phil- Buffalo Bills at home against the Steelers, very entertaining."

"Who won?"

"We did, but only just. Tell you what, we were getting slaughtered in the first half, it was lucky we picked up after half-time, otherwise we would have been laughed at."

"What's Coulson like at football matches? I can't imagine it."

Emily laughed at the thought.

"A _lot _different than he is usually, especially now. He's always shouting and getting angry at all the players- if a Steeler makes a mistake, he won't hold back. His language isn't as fruity as mine when we go, but then again, I'm not too bad if I get angry. The Super Bowl, well, that was interesting…"

They continued fighting on for a while, figuring that their boxing could help with their hand-eye co-ordination, which would always be essential in battle. Bruce's reflexes were actually rather excellent, he'd clearly been practicing and that had definitely been useful and advantageous to him.

"Shall we do something else now?" he'd noticed Blake eyeing up the ring.

She nodded in agreement and they exited under the ropes, putting the gloves away. Just before they could practice something else, however, Coulson called everyone to swap. Bruce went off with Tamworth whilst Emily went off the practice with Natasha. She was pretty scared about this- her ass would be kicked to the ground, but at least it prepared her for fighting for real against HYDRA agents who could be a billion times a better fighter than she.

"Hey Natasha," she beamed at the only other female teammate.

"Hi," the red-head replied bluntly, "Ok, so I've been analysing your fighting technique. You're good, I'll give you that, but there are flaws in your technique. You focus far too much on gymnastics, using cartwheels and flips and stuff on your opponents. I admit that it can be pretty useful. You also choose stealth over strength, which can be good if you're fighting against an opponent with an overabundance of the latter but not a lot of the former. If your legs are incapacitated, you need to focus on your upper body, using your arms as opposed to your legs. I know you prefer using your gun, but you really need to work on those, which is what your going to do today. I've already talked to Steve; he wants to train you good and ready. He doesn't want to take the chance of HYDRA trying to hurt you and you not being prepared, especially if you're caught unaware."

Emily was not expecting that. Steve hadn't really spoken to her about any of that, but she wasn't surprised that she'd gone to Natasha first. Natasha was the best 'regular human' fighter of the group, maybe even on the level of Steve. She was key in analysing weakness in enemies.

"Oh, ok. Guess you wanna help me that bad, don't ya?"

Natasha glared at her.

"Collins…"

"Ok, shutting up now." She knew to shut up when Natasha used her surname, especially with that tone.

"Right, I want you to practice against me right now. Do what you'd do against someone like me without any prior knowledge of my skills, just analyse how I look on the outside."

"But you'll thrash me."

Natasha raised another eyebrow.

"Well, when we fight against HYDRA, they will not be as kind, so better start now."

"Can we at least use a mat so I have a soft landing?"

Natasha nodded and they both dragged one of the blue mats from over the side of the gym into the middle of the floor. The pair both stood on a joined mat each and Natasha nodded at Emily to begin. The brunette looked her friend up and down. After a few seconds of quick analysis, she hooked her ankle around Natasha's to trip her up, but the former assassin managed to land perfectly and jump back up. She grabbed Emily's arm and flipped her over, the younger woman landing on her back with a rather large _thump. _She hissed in slight pain and rubbed her back before leaping back up, twisting Natasha's arm behind her back, grabbing her other arm and sliding on the floor so she sort of fell over her. Natasha slipped into a roly-poly and pulled Emily back down with her.

She threw her hands up in the air.

Natasha helped her to her feet and nodded appraisingly.

"You've gotten better since the last time I saw you fight, a lot of people would have struggled to get straight back up. But we've still got a lot to work on, as I'd rather you didn't die."

Whilst Natasha and Emily classed each other as friends, they weren't really that close and hadn't really hung out a lot, just those two, over the couple of years they'd known each other, which was rather strange, as Emily had hung out with the others more. She obviously was with Steve a lot, she'd been to the movies with Barton and Stark a few times, spent some time teaching Thor about Earth and had sometimes been bowling with Bruce (he was weirdly good at it). But to be honest, Natasha still scared her quite a lot and she wasn't classed as being in the Russian's inner circle. Maybe Emily could make more of an effort, she didn't know.

"Ok, from the beginning."

She sighed as she prepared to get her ass kicked again.

After several hours, which included a few more pairings and some group work, the session was nearly at an end and the group were being put into random pairs. Emily hadn't been with Steve at all, and had only been with Blake during a group session, which was probably a good idea. She was praying to be put with her boyfriend but was disappointed when he was told to work with Bruce. Fortunately, however, she was called over by her uncle.

Relieved at this, she rushed over to him.

"Hey Uncle Phil!" she smiled brightly.

"Hey kid," he replied with a smile equally as bright. Her uncle was her favourite person in the entire world and she loved him more than anybody else. She felt so lucky to have a person like her uncle in her life, he'd always been like a cool mentor towards her, with the added bonus of being a relative. The feeling was mutual too- he loved more than anyone too, and was very protective of her.

"What shall we do?" she stretched off.

"Just practice?" he shrugged, "I think you got a bit of a bruising from Natasha."

"A _bit of a bruising, a bit of a bruising? _I was thrashed, hurt like hell. Suppose it's good practice and whatever, but oh my, that wasn't fun."

He had to laugh at her as they started sparring.

"So, what do you think of our team members?" she asked of him.

"Can't complain," he shrugged, "Both friends, I guess. But what about you?"

"I think you can guess."

"Look Em, I know you hate Blake with every inch of your being, but can you just please play nice? Once HYDRA's out of the way, he can go back to another team and you never have to work with him again. The feeling is mutual, I understand that, but I know he won't go out of his way to piss you off, he's not that bad once you get to know him. Besides, you hated Stark when you first met but now you're pretty good friends, even if you find him annoying."

Emily bit her lip.

"Well, the difference is I never actually hated Stark, I just found him a little irritating, well, very irritating, but that's not the point, Uncle Phil."

He sighed.

"Fine, just be nice anyway, I'm warning you now. So anyway, how are things between you and Steve?"

She nodded, "Same as always, still love him and enjoy living with him. He was pretty upset yesterday when we got home, barely saw him all evening and I didn't get more than three words out of him until this morning. Last night, both nightmares."

Coulson frowned.

"Must be beating himself up, can't imagine what he's going through, this is going to be so difficult for him, it's like he went under for nothing. He's probably going to have a lot of nightmares, isn't he, remembering everything that went on. Make sure be careful around him. Don't treat him with kid gloves or anything, but still, at the same time, be careful."

She nodded in agreement, "I will be. But at least there's one good thing."

"What's that?"

"At least HYDRA doesn't watch him whilst he's sleeping."

Coulson went bright red. Steve had told Emily what Coulson had said to him upon waking up and she'd walked his office the next morning, laughing at him for a solid five minutes before she was able to maintain her composure to tell him what she was laughing at. He was so glad that he had his own office. From then on, she'd mocked him mercilessly afterward, teasing him daily for a good few months before she got bored. Still, it cropped up from time to time.

"Shut it you," he went bright red.

"I love the fact that you're obsessed with the Cap and have all his stuff, it makes for great story-telling for dates. It once fuelled an entire dinner."

"I hate you."

"No you don't," she gave him an annoyingly large grin.

"Just never thought you'd be dating Captain America, that's all."

"Well, I don't think anybody would. He's technically older than all of us, apart from Thor and I'd been born, graduated high school and college and got myself a job before we found him. To be honest, when we found him, I didn't think I'd even meet him for a while, much less date him."

She kicked her leg over Coulson's leg, but luckily, he ducked just in time, her thigh scraping the top of his head as he dropped down. He grabbed it but she slid out of his grip and landed perfectly.

"But I'm glad for you both, he deserves you and you deserve him."

"You really think so? Dad doesn't agree, he was pretty hard on Steve when they first met. Then again, he's a lot nicer to him nowadays. I think he's liked him as time goes on."

"Yeah, well your dad can be pretty judgemental, can't he?"

Coulson then gasped in shock at what he'd just said as Emily burst out laughing, unable to contain it as everyone started staring at her again, wondering what had set her off now.

"PLEASE don't tell him I said that."

"I won't," she replied in between giggles, "But anyway, you shouldn't be worried, you could take him in a fight."

"Well, true, but he would put up a good fight I'd imagine."

"True."

Eventually, after mindless chatter and Coulson teaching Emily quite a lot of useful tips that she would have to take with her in the field, he called time. It was now lunch and most were quite glad, as they were all very hungry.

"Wanna have lunch with me?" he asked his niece.

She nodded, "Ok, sure, just gonna see Steve first."

She wandered over to the super soldier, who was stood on his own at the side of the room, drinking from his water bottle. He gave her a slight smile as he approached.

"Hey beautiful."

"Hiya, sweetheart," she leaned forward and a quick hug, which he returned, "I'm gonna have lunch with my uncle, you gonna be ok?"

He nodded.

"Just gonna stay at the gym, practice on my own. Be careful, you hear me? Stay safe."

"Of course, always am," she went up on her tiptoes and have him a quick peck, "Love you."

"Love you more."

Emily wandered back over to her waiting uncle, glancing at Steve over her shoulder as she went. This was not going to be fun.

**Another chapter done. Blake and Tamworth are going to appear a fair bit, especially later on. Will Tamworth's motivation for revenge for his late best friend ruin the plans of the team?I have plans for Emily's father, which is why I'm making sure to build up his personality a bit. Imagine that he's a good guy, just a little overprotective.**

**Next time: Natalie and Emily go for coffee and run into Aaron and his special someone…**

**Thanks for reading and hope to see you again next chapter xxx**


	4. Chapter 4

**DISCLAIMED**

**Chapter 4**

It actually wasn't raining when Emily and Natalie went out to lunch. Their chosen spot was a coffee shop just a stone's throw away from the base, which meant that it was the choice store for workers and was therefore frequented by agents. Whilst it wasn't raining, it was still pretty chilly and Emily was glad that she had her jacket on.

Natalie was currently discussing visiting some family abroad. She was half Hispanic, on her mother's side, and still had a few relatives in Spain, even though most were in the USA. She was very proud of her heritage and was fluent in Spanish, having to make sure to learn from her mother. This confused Aaron, who didn't understand any of it and Emily, who was only conversational in the language. Emily herself was only fluent in French, having spent summers in France that had helped her pick it up. They hadn't had any time off in a while, and were due some. But Natalie hadn't made any plans, what with HYDRA being in the mix. She understood that it could be a while and that the next time off would be Thanksgiving or even Christmas.

They got in the queue, both eyeing up the cakes. Maybe they could take the cakes to go and just have a sandwich and a coffee at the actual stop. They both scoured the little place, but could not stop any fellow SHIELD personnel, which was not unusual, as most chose to eat at base during the cold winter months, which was not a bad idea. Well, it wasn't exactly winter per se, but it was still cold.

"Hey, check out the hottie over there by the tree," Natalie pointed at a rather tall, muscular guy with shaggy brown hair and stubble. She squinted her eyes closer and then sighed at the fact he had a ring on his finger. Natalie had freakishly good eyesight, even better than an eagle's. Emily looked him over, but decided that he was nowhere as good looking as Steve. Well, then again, she was probably biased, but still, not a patch on him.

"Eh."

"Freak," Natalie rolled her eyes.

Natalie was the only one out of the group who was currently single. Everyone was sure she'd found someone eventually, but it was a question of whether it would be soon or not. She had no problems attracting guys- she had a great personality and was nearly always the most striking and stunning person in any room- but she just couldn't find anyone to stay with. Emily had been with Steve for over two years and Aaron had been in a relationship for several months, but Natalie hadn't been with anyone properly for a year. She'd never actually really mentioned being in a relationship, and happily talked with the others about theirs, interjecting her opinions and making embarrassing comments. But sometimes, Emily wondered if it got her best friend down. Christ, she'd never really thought about it like that before.

As they approached the front of the queue, she decided to shoot for it.

"Nat?"

"Hm?" the dark-haired girl wasn't really paying attention.

"You know when Aaron and I are talking about our relationships? Does it, like, upset you? Cos I don't mean to sound patronizing but you haven't been with anyone for a while and obviously the two of us have. I mean, well, Aaron doesn't talk about Francesca a lot but it's clear he likes being in a relationship and he talks about it a lot. Cos if you'd liked us to stop, I'm sure I could have a word with Aaron."

To her utter astonishment, Natalie burst out laughing.

"Er, is something funny?" she narrowed her eyes.

"Sorry," Natalie wiped her eyes, still chuckling, "Sorry. Listen, honey, it's nice for you to be all considerate, but I don't honestly mind. Look, I don't even care that I'm not in a relationship; I'm not one of those girls who whines about it, even though I understand why they do. Besides, you and Aaron aren't too bad. He's not the type to talk about relationships too much and you've been with Steve for over two years now, the novelty's worn off. I didn't see you as much as I do now when you first got together, so yeah, whatever."

Emily respected Natalie a lot for that. Sure, she wasn't the type to follow boys around and act like it was the end of the world after a break-up (she was never really that bothered), but Natalie was a lot more independent and didn't really care about her love life.

"So why were you laughing then?"

"Not like you to be considerate."

"Cheers."

Natalie went for a Flat White with a deli wrap, whilst Emily went against her usual of a Ristretto and instead opted for a Cortado and egg & mayo sandwich. The pair, as well as Aaron, went there so often that they had to get one of those stamp, have so many coffee and get one free cards every week, considering the sheer amount they consumed. It was Emily's second favourite after the coffee shop near her house, but she was more often at the one nearest work, mainly cos she spent a lot of time there.

The two went and sat by a potted plant at the edge of the shop. It was pretty much impossible for any SHIELD agent to dislike coffee- it kept everyone awake, and everyone swore by it- you couldn't get by on a mission, paperwork day or all-nighter without it. Not a single person at SHIELD believed in decaf. Any probie who said that they did would be laughed out of the door, or quickly converted. It was practically the first thing the rookies learnt and there was a quiet campaign to put it as part of the official training agenda, something that probably even Director Fury agreed with. Well, not probably, definitely.

The fight against HYDRA had already taken its toll against SHIELD. More work, but not as many people complained, as it was against a serious enemy and everyone knew that it was in their best interests. Everyone had been working late, nearly double the hours, pouring their heart and soul into the work. Social lives had basically been put on hold, and there was practically no such thing at this time. You got to go home to sleep and eat, and that was basically it. The only practical (and only allowed) excuse would be that you would be on your deathbed. Nearly half the agency had gone through their lie detector tests, and there had been a few people that they were all suspicious of.

As they continued, Emily suddenly got the feeling that she was being, well, watched. She'd had that feeling before, during missions when she'd been stalked by the enemy, not knowing whether they were there or not. She looked around, but couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, just people drinking their coffees and walking up and down the street. Maybe she was being paranoid- yeah, she was being paranoid. That was it. Ever since HYDRA had come back up, she'd been constantly looking over her shoulder, even if she tried to hide it from the scared Steve. It wasn't that she was scared, she was just being careful.

As Natalie discussed an article she had read in _National Geographic, _her eagle eyes went over to the other side of the shop and she gasped in shock, pointing a finger over in that direction. Emily followed her line of sight, and one huge smirk appeared on her face.

Aaron stood with a woman and by the looks of it; they were far from just friends. She was very petite, only standing a little over five foot, which looked pretty strange in comparison to the very tall Aaron. Small and slight, they could not really see her features too well, but her long, dark hair was visible as she removed it from a ponytail, letting it fall down her back. There must have been at least a foot between the pair, her tiny frame contrasting against his large, muscular one.

"Is that who I think it is?"

"It might just be," Emily smirked, "Shall I?"

Natalie nodded enthusiastically and the brunette turned around, cupping her hands to her face and yelled, not too loudly, "YO, PIERCE!"

Aaron jumped in shock and turned around to see his two best friends waving crazily at him from across the way, demented smiles on both of their faces. He turned back to the girl, whom they guessed was the mysterious girlfriend, who was looking at them curiously. She nodded at something, smiling, but he shook his head wildly, looking back at the girls. The woman moved closer and started doing puppy eyes, quite similar to what Emily did to Steve when she wanted something. Aaron sighed and nodded again, this time in a kind of giving-in fashion. He took her by the hand and led her over to the table.

"Guys, meet Francesca," he indicated to the girl, "Francesca, meet Emily and Natalie."

She shook both of their hands, "It's so great to finally meet you, Aaron talks about the two of you all the time, it's insane."

"Oh really?" the girls exchanged glances, "Why don't you join us?"

Francesca blurted out a 'sure' just as Aaron shook his head. Rolling his eyes, he grabbed two chairs from an empty neighboring table and pulled them over to the ladies'.

"So Francesca," Natalie moved forward, "I wish I could say that I've heard all about you, but Aaron's been keeping you very quiet. Why don't you tell us a bit about yourself?"

The dark-haired girl turned to her boyfriend questioningly, before going to answer the question, "Well, erm, I'm a Fashion and Textiles Technology major from University at Buffalo SUYN, currently working in the design section at Ralph Lauren, which I love. I originally come from Jamestown, which is where my parents live; it was just us three in the house when I was growing up. I played tennis for the state youth team in high school and I still love it."

There was a nod of approval from the girls.

"Fashion, huh, I bet that's interesting?"

Francesca nodded, "Oh, it's the best. I know some people knock it, but I love it, it's something that I've wanted to do ever since I was in elementary school, a dream of mine for years and I reckon the job is better if you're passionate about it, right?"

Emily was still a little skeptical. Sure, Francesca seemed nice and friendly, but the trio was very protective of one another, and always seemed to be a little wary of the people they were dating, as the last thing they wanted was for one of the others to get hurt. Francesca seemed to notice Emily looking her up and down, shrinking a little back into her seat in fear. This woman was trained in God knows what, she wouldn't want to cross her.

"What's your favourite movie?" she blurted out.

She looked taken aback at the question but recovered quickly, "Er, I'd guess I'd have to say 'Mona Lisa Smile,' I thought it was very inspiring. Ginnifer Goodwin is one of my favourite actresses."

Emily nodded in approval. She tended to be interested in what kind of film people liked; as it helped her make up her mind about what a person was like, even though she took their personality and interactions with others as a better guide. Apparently it was 'wrong' or something to do that, as she had been told. She wasn't the only one who did it though- it was quite the habit of her brother, or so she had been told.

"Like any of the classics?"

Francesca nodded, "A few. What about you, what are your favourites?"

Emily loved this conversation already.

"My all time favourite is 'Roman Holiday,' has been ever since I was twelve, it's just such a lovely film, even if the ending is a little sad. I like pretty much all of the classics, like 'Casablanca' and 'Forrest Gump' and the like. I'm a huge James Bond fan, which definitely runs in the family, and Connery was the best in my opinion, I don't think anyone can top him. He's pretty much my favourite modern actor, if you can call him that, 'The Untouchables' is such a classic. I'm not really too big on horror films, they're mostly just predictable, especially the crappy modern ones. I love everything Disney and Pixar, 'Beauty and the Beast' is my favourite Disney and I absolutely love 'Up,' it makes me cry every time at the beginning, but 'Toy Story 2' is my favourite."

The dark-skinned girl beamed.

"Ooh, I love 'Toy Story 2,' but Jessie's story always makes me so sad."

The two started garbling on about movies for a good few minutes, much to the pleasure and bemusement of Aaron, who was glad to see his friend and girlfriend getting along so well. He mainly just stayed out of the conversation, only interjecting his opinions every so often, just like Natalie. Eventually, the girls stopped talking.

"So, anyway," Natalie turned to Francesca, "How did you two meet each other?"

"Well….

_Flashback_

_Several months previously._

_Francesca rushed down the sidewalk, juggling a coffee in one hand and her briefcase in the other, all of the files that she couldn't fit into it under her left arm. It was a windy day, and she'd just got off the Subway to walk a few blocks to her workplace. Her hair blew behind her as she desperately trying to fight her way through the gusty breeze. If she lost her files, she would be dead. Tanya, her boss, hated everyone and Francesca, though shy and quiet, was no exception. Paul, her other boss, was nice enough, but Tanya was pure evil._

_Just as she rushed ahead, her foot slipped slightly. She managed to regain her balance, but her files slipped out of her hand. The wind had luckily slowed down a bit, but the files still flew across the pavement. Gasping, she ran across as fast as she could to catch them, but most of them had gone off in the distance. _

_Fantastic, all of her hard-work, gone. She had nothing to present on the scarves pitch, so Tanya would have her on coffee duty for a week. No, scratch that, a month._

_Just as she was about to start panicking, she felt someone tap on her shoulder._

"_Excuse me, miss, I think you dropped these?"_

_She turned around, and looked straight up at the guy in front of her. He was very tall, towering over her tiny figure- he would probably tower over the average person. In her opinion, he was pretty cute, with messy blonde hair and soft blue eyes._

"_Oh, right thanks," she blushed as he handed them back._

"_You don't want to be losing those, especially in this weather. I think I got them all, but sorry if I didn't, the wind was pretty strong and there are a lot of people today."_

_She shook her head._

"_Well, no one else stopped did they? Thanks again. I'm Francesca, by the way."_

_She shuffled her files and stuck out a hand, which he shook._

"_Aaron, nice to meet you. Is that work stuff?"_

"_Yeah, just some designs, I work in fashion."_

"_Sounds interesting."_

"_It most definitely is, I tell you."_

_There was an awkward silence between the pair. The train had come rather early (for once), so Francesca wasn't in a rush to get to work, whilst Aaron had a rare day off, so they both had time to kill. She was quite a quiet person by nature, very shy._

"_So, erm, I'm sorry if this is a bit forward, but would you like to go for some coffee sometime?"_

_She blushed._

"_Oh yeah, er, I get off at twelve for lunch, is there somewhere we could meet?"_

"_Do you know Greenwoods? Just by the game store?"_

_She nodded._

"_I'll meet you there, say at five past? Might be ten past, though."_

"_Yeah, well, I've gotta go, so I'll see you then," Aaron gave her a little wave._

"_See ya then."_

_And with that, they both turned away._

_End of flashback._

"Aww, what a cute story," Natalie beamed.

"Look at you," Emily prodded Aaron's arm, "It's like you're a knight in shining armour, how sweet were you? It's kind of worrying. So, Francesca, you mentioned getting the Subway. Where do you live?"

"I live in the Village with my roomate Chloe; she's a grad student at Columbia. I've lived there ever since I graduated four years back. Chloe is so smart, she's doing a PhD, which means she's always studying, and I really admire her dedication. But what about you guys?"

"I live in Kips Bay, but I'm alone though, prefer it."

"I'm a Manhattanite too," Emily added in, "But I live in Chelsea, with my boyfriend."

Francesca briefly recalled a conversation where Aaron had mentioned Emily's boyfriend. It began with an S...what was it? Steve? She wanted to say Steve, but she'd look stupid if it was wrong.

"Steve, right?"

She decided to punch for it, and was relieved when Emily nodded.

"How long you guys been together?"

"Just over two years now, and we've been living together for a few months now."

"I bet it's great, isn't it, living with a boyfriend? I mean, apart from the mess and leaving the toilet seat and whatnot. Like having someone to cuddle with and watch movies with and tell about your day and stuff. I bet you're never cold in the winter. Plus, someone to cook for you. Well, that's good for me; I can't cook to save my life. The number of time I've nearly burnt down the apartment..."

"Actually, it's nothing special. Sure, I love living with Steve, but we're often away for days at a time so I don't see him as often as I would if we had normal jobs. We don't really talk about our days, cos we mainly see each other. But, he does cook, but then again so do I. He's also very neat, leaves the toilet seat down and always lets me cuddle up to him, so that's good I guess."

She sniggered.

"God, I can't cook either, I live on take-outs and ready meals," Natalie agreed.

The two started discussing their various cooking failures as the others started finishing off their lunch. It was soon time to get back into the grind, fighting against HYDRA.

"Guys, it's time to go," Aaron looked at his watch and the four started scraping their chairs to get up. He turned to Francesca and gave her a quick kiss on the lips and she turned to them.

"It was so lovely meeting you guys! I can see why Aaron likes you so much."

They got smirked at Aaron, who just shrugged.

"We'll just have to hang out some time."

"Oh yeah," Emily nodded absent-mindedly, "We must."

They waved goodbye to Francesca and went off to walk down the streets to get back to the base. They waited until they'd got fairly down it, quite a bit away from Francesca and the café. After a small amount of silence, Aaron turned to his friends for judgement.

"So...what do you think?"

"We like her," Natalie and Emily replied simultaneously.

The blonde raised his eyebrows at his friends, shocked that they'd agreed so quickly.

"She's really nice, took an interest in us and didn't heap the limelight on herself, so she's alright in my book. Plus, she might get us discount at Ralph Lauren so ya know, not so bad."

He turned to Emily next.

"She seemed genuine, displayed no signs of nerves or lies apart from when I started analysing her, but that's understandable. She has good taste in movies, which is always a good thing. Plus, I think you need someone who's opposite to you. She's quite shy and reserved, which balances you out. I know that a lot of people date those who are similar, but I personally think opposites attract."

Aaron was relieved at this. He valued his friends' opinions about a lot of things, even if he wasn't vocal about it. He was glad that Francesca had their seal of approval, but he would have dated her regardless, as he really liked her. She was different to all of the other girls he had dated, more shy but also a lot more interesting.

"So, back to the fight," Natalie stretched her eyes up, "It's been three days at the base and we haven't even been to our office yet. I know we've been away for longer, but it doesn't feel right being in New York without being there."

"Yeah, it does feel weird," Aaron agreed.

"Hey, do you guys remember the day we found out that we could share an office?" Emily asked.

_Flashback_

"_Hey, Collins!"_

_Emily turned in the corridor as Aaron jogged over. When he arrived, he pulled her into a hug, as it had been a few months since he'd seen her in the flesh._

"_What are you doing here?" she asked, excited._

"_Department shuffle-up, I'm being based here, which means unless you've been moved, we're going to see each other far too often. I'm not sure about Natalie, I haven't seen her yet. Please don't tell me you've moved, you should have been briefed this morning if you had."_

_She shook her head._

"_Nope, I'm staying, still on the Avengers Initiative, along with Uncle Phil."_

"_Rumour has it that they'd disbanded the Undercover Unit, they thought that there was no use for it. Means Natalie's got a new job if it's true and I think it is."_

_The Undercover Unit had branches all over the US, and the New York division covered the East Coast._

"_Hey guys," Natalie ran up, "UU's been disbanded, so they're keeping me here as an odd-jobs kind of girl. Thank God, I would've hated being somewhere else. Please, please tell me you guys are staying here, otherwise it will suck."_

_She grinned at the confirmation by nods._

"_So do you have a specific job?" she turned to Aaron, who shook his head._

"_Nope, not really. You guys wanna go for coffee?"_

_They both nodded and followed him to the break room. Even though it wouldn't be like old times, at least they'd see each other more often. Aaron had been subletting his apartment whilst he was away around the country, so he'd get that back, whilst Natalie had kept use of hers. There was an unspoken agreement between the trio that they would be celebrating by hitting a bar later on._

_The break room was no busier than usual, so they managed to get their coffee quickly. As they went to sit down, one of the administrative assistants, Richard walked over._

"_Ah, just the three I was looking for!"_

_The trio looked at each other apprehensively._

"_As you well know, there's been a department shuffle up and you've all been assigned to stay here for the foreseeable future. There was an agreement at the meeting the other day that certain agents will be assigned small offices in order to do their desk work, so they have somewhere to do it more peacefully in order to increase productivity. All those assigned to offices have to share, even though the offices are very small."_

"_How many to an office exactly?"_

"_Three," Richard grinned at them, "Everyone has a say in who they share with and are allowed with who they want unless the higher-ups don't agree with the decision. Those who don't like anyone or aren't sure will be put with others."_

"_We'll go together," they all stated in-sync._

_Richard scribbled on his clipboard._

"_I don't think I even needed to ask, we were all sure you'd want to be together."_

"_Is it that obvious?"_

_He nodded._

"_Yup, it most definitely is. Anyway, I must go, I've got to sort out everyone else. I'll track you all down tomorrow if all goes well, which it most probably will, you all work together well."_

_They all waved him goodbye and waited til he was gone before turning back to each other._

"_THIS IS SO EXCITING!" Natalie squealed as she pulled her friends into a hug, "It's going to be so much fun; we all get to work together."_

"_Finally, somewhere to work privately without those stupid gossipy hens distracting me."_

_Aaron rolled his eyes._

"_Trust you to think about your job, you little workaholic."_

"_Hey, I value my work!" she argued back._

"_Yeah, you do, far too much. I understand you've wanted to do this since you were a kid, yada, yada, yada, but you're a little workaholic, Collins," Aaron slung an arm around her._

"_If you weren't one of my best friends, I would hurt you."_

"_Sure you would, sure you would," he smirked down at his friend, "Anyway, Natalie's right, it's going to be a blast. I can practice my epic paper throwing skills at you, or we can have competitions. We get to talk about stuff we can't talk about in front of our superiors and chat about them too. Plus, we can have our long arguments about how the Bengals are far superior to the Steelers!"_

"_Don't even get me started, Pierce."_

"_Yeah, shut it, both of you," Natalie threatened jokingly, "Or I'll make sure you'll never be able to say 'football' ever again."_

_End of flashback_

"That was one good day," Aaron recalled with a smile as they walked through the New York streets back to base.

As they continued down the streets, Emily continued getting that feeling of being watched and boy was it creepy. She really didn't think she was being paranoid now, she genuinely felt it. She wanted to ask Natalie and Aaron, but she didn't want them to think she was acting crazy. Well, they most likely wouldn't, but she didn't want to take that risk. She wouldn't put it past HYDRA to be spying on them; she in fact expected it of them, if they wanted to attack SHIELD and its members.

"Here we are," the three turned a left and into the building that was the SHIELD base, the one that Steve had busted out of a few years back.

They followed the twists and turns of the corridors, their ID Cards and fingerprints required at every turn, along with the odd checking from security guards. Security on the base had increased tenfold ever since the HYDRA threat, which was of little surprise to everyone. The polygraph test had been used more in one week than it had been in an entire year.

"If I have to file one more report, I am going to scream," Natalie moaned.

"Better that than continuing looking over SHIELD files over and over again, I feel sorry for those who have to do it. But, it's worth it, we need to defend ourselves," Emily disagreed.

The three walked back into the main lobby, expecting to see it as it normally was. Instead, what looked like every member of personnel was gathered together in a large crowd, staring up at the screens mounted high up, which had the red alert screen flashing from it.

Slipping between everyone, they moved forward to see what was happening.

"What's happened?" Aaron asked aloud.

Somebody turned around, "We don't know, we're all working and suddenly the alarm bell goes and we're all heading towards the lobby."

Aaron nodded in thanks as Commander Hill mounted the stairs, standing above everyone. She didn't even need to shout to get everyone's attention- they all looked at her straight away. She eyed her audience wearily before clinging onto the rails, standing large and tall.

"It is with great regret that I inform you that Slingshot has fallen. An explosion of unknown origin occurred early this morning, destroying equipment and files. Casualties are unknown and we are unsure if anything has been taken or changed."

There were gasps as everybody broke into whispers.

"We will be flying agents out to survey the damage after a risk assessment, which is currently taking place. That's all for now. Any agents being sent will be informed in due course."

She stepped away as everyone continued gossiping.

"I'll have to hand it to HYDRA, they don't wait around," Emily shook her head, "They've been pretty quick, I think they must be trying to kick us while we're down, whilst we're not expecting it."

"Must be," Natalie agreed.

No one moved back to their stations, already too involved in discussing what on Earth was happening. They'd expected action from the organisation, but nothing this quick or deadly. Everyone just hoped that the casualties would be minimum, but they understood that it was rather unlikely, as HYDRA were not scared of causing some hurt.

"Shall we get back to the office?"

Aaron shook his head, "I have a feeling that we'll be called up to go, but I might be wrong."

"Ooh, do you feel a disturbance in the force?" Emily joked, "Jedi senses tingling?"

"Shut up. And yes, yes I do."

**So HYDRA's already struck SHIELD and we met Francesca. She's not going to be a one-off character either; I have a few ideas for her. Also, quick thing. If Steve proposes to Emily (strong if, you know what I'm like with changing my mind), do you guys want to see a wedding? It won't be the whole thing, just parts of it. If not, it'll just be a small epilogue or something. Let me know before I start waiting, so I can plan. I know we're not even a quarter of a way through, but I like planning. I think I will probably go for it, but I would love to know what you think about it.**

**Next time: the agents survey the damage done.**

**Thanks and hope to see you again soon xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**DISCLAIMED**

**Chapter 5**

The Slingshot had a much tenser air as the helicopter approached and landed on the turf next to it, awaiting the exit of the agents. To the naked eye, the front of the base looked as normal as always, not as if it had been attacked by HYDRA. However, a huge hole had been blown out of the side.

Unfortunately, it was not the same Slingshot as it had been in the morning.

Emily, Aaron, Natalie and the rest of the helicopter residents jumped down from the doorway, their eyes bugging in shock at the level of the damage done. The explosion had apparently been only small, but it had taken out a fair bit of the wall. It was unnerving, to see SHIELD vulnerable like this. The biggest hope everyone held was that there would be a small amount of injuries and casualties. The Slingshot was a mainly scientific base, and it was horrible when non-field agents were targeted, simply because they weren't ready or trained it.

It was just horrible.

The small group all stuck together as they headed up to the main building. The bomb disposal team had deemed the place safe after checking for more explosives and seeing if the initial one had run its course. The last time a base had been attacked was the Helicarrier back just before New York, and that had been two years ago. Even then, that had been the first time. There were protocols in place for this kind of thing, and they were often enacted as practice, but it just wasn't done.

They passed the disposal unit, who had cordoned off the side of the base which had been hit. Bricks and rubble mixed together on the outside, underneath the beating sun. The entrance corridor was full of personnel who were all being attended for various injuries, but it seemed like they were the ones who had got off lightly, with only tiny cuts and bruises here and there. The worst in that group seemed to be a broken arm courtesy of a security guard, who winced as it was bandaged up by a doctor. The pain in his face seemed to reflect what everyone in SHIELD was feeling that day- they were trying to hide it, but it was still there.

At the end of the corridor, everyone split off to go investigate further. Unlike most of the others, Emily headed down the route that would take her to the area where the explosion occurred, where most would be gathered. As she walked down the corridor, she thought about her uncle.

It had been two years since they'd both been 'saved' by SHIELD after their deaths, from being stabbed by 'the Asgardian Mussolini' and being electrocuted by alien electricity respectively. Coulson had worked tirelessly to find out what had saved them both, but to no avail- SHIELD was not revealing a thing. He'd tried straight up asking, but they'd just shoved a file in his face, a file that he believed was edited or nearly fully so. They'd both tried, but Emily was very locked out due to her lower agent status and clearance level. Even Coulson, who was pretty high up, was struggling to find anything related. Emily was staring to give up at this point, but Coulson wouldn't budge. He'd felt so different after his resurrection, so he was determined to find out what had addled his brain. The memories of Tahiti were starting to fade, become fuzzy, and become blurs. Emily remembered waking up in a hospital bed with loads of stuff hooked up to her, which was quickly taken away by the kindly doctors in the room, who had been far too eager to look after her and assure everything was fine. Then her uncle came in and it all went crazy from there. They'd spent two years looking, but for nothing.

He'd made her promise she wouldn't tell Steve. She felt bad for lying to him, but she respected her uncle and his wishes. He knew that she was searching but not to what extent. He wanted to help, as he knew how important it was to her, but she just told him that it was fine. When it was all sorted, when she found out, she'd tell him. But right now, she didn't have a clue.

To be honest, she wanted to find out more for her uncle's sake than her own. He'd dedicated his entire life to SHIELD, having helped out from when he was only fresh out of high school. He deserved answers more than anyone- to her; he was the greatest man in the entire world. What he was doing, tearing his hair out, it was totally unfair. She just hoped that it would give him the closure he so desperately craved. The fact that they were keeping it a secret disgusted her. Normally, she wouldn't question it, but there was something so mysterious about it all. Didn't she have a right to know? It was her, not them.

But now, to be honest, she was giving up. It had been a long two years, and they hadn't got anywhere. Fury, and SHIELD, wasn't giving anything up. They hadn't even managed to get anything out of the doctors who had attended to them. They'd only recently started asking them, but again, to no avail. Streiten had completely disappeared, gone off the grid. In order not to arouse any suspicion (or so they thought), they did it in short bursts, instead of prolonging the experience.

The only reason Coulson hadn't given up was because he felt like a change man after being saved. Unlike Emily, who had felt perfectly normal after the procedure (well, after a month anyway), he just felt different in his personality, becoming more serious in his work. He was still loving to his family, but Emily could tell that there was something different. Whenever Tahiti was brought up, he simply stated that it 'was a magical place,' and left it at that.

She shook her head as she clambered through a broken doorway. Some of the personnel, agents included, were already sweeping up. It was sweet, seeing the unity it brought; even though she was sure that they'd all rather it hadn't happened.

Not long later, she finally arrived at the sight of the explosion.

Rubble was decked everywhere, the building materials caving in on the tiny room. Her foot crunched against something and she looked down, moving her boot out of the way to reveal a now broken photo frame of some old Slingshot scientists, looking happy in the golden age of the 50's, their smiles frozen in a black and white image. Feeling slightly bad, but knowing that there was nothing that could have been done about it, she moved away and surveyed the rest of the damage.

Just a few feet away, her uncle, Blake, Tamworth and Steve were surveying the damage too, engrossed in the destruction that HYDRA had caused. One look at Steve's face broke her heart- he looked so angry at it all.

"Wow."

The words escaped her lips immediately after she saw the damage. Steve looked up and motioned her over to him, wrapping her into a tight hug as soon as she was over, kissing the top of her head before releasing her. His hands immediately found hers and they interlocked.

"How long you been here?"

"Not long, just an hour," he replied, surveying the crumbling walls, "I was one of the first ones out. Natasha and Clint are here somewhere, but I'm not sure exactly where. Fury's flying out from DC, he should be here soon, he was sorting out some stuff at the Triskelion. Your uncle was with me, Tamworth and Blake followed not long after. I can't believe what they've done to this place, it's disgusting."

"Any deaths?"

"No. One of the scientists was pretty badly injured and another one was quite close by at the time, but not close enough for a fatality, it was a pretty small explosion from what I've gathered."

"Thank God, I mean, the explosion is obviously horrible but at least no one's dead."

"Yet, that scientist could be dead for all we know. But I don't think the explosion was meant to kill anyone, I don't think that it was the purpose."

"What do you think the purpose was?"

"Not to kill, but to send a message. If there was a death, so be it, but I think it was to send the message that they could harm us whenever they wanted to, with a push of a button. They're telling us that they can do what we want and there was little we could have done to stop it, and little we can do in the future. They did it so easily, with no warning signs."

"That is worryingly plausible."

He nodded and they walked across the floor together, continually surveying the damage done. The computers were fried, all the connections in the room lost. It was only a small research room, something easily accessible to everyone with Level 1 clearance, which means pretty much everyone could access it. All of the cameras in the room were now broken, but SHIELD still had access from their other systems, if they hadn't been destroyed. They probably couldn't find anything now.

The windows were completely smashed, the glass scattered on the outside turf, frames broken. Dust piled in the tiny room, coming from the humid outside. Several computer screens were broken, completely shattered and beyond repair- you could tell they had been in a bad situation. The explosion had been fairly small compared to most, but the damage was still done. Squatting down, the young agent examined some shrapnel, brushing it with her hands. As her hands raked over the metal, she felt an oddly-shaped object. Grabbing a white glove from the side (agents were required to use forensic gloves in places like this); she pulled it over her hand and picked up what felt like a chain. Dangling in front of her face was a necklace.

Having a necklace in there was not exactly out of the ordinary, but the way in which it was retrieved was quite weird. Unlike everything else in the room, it was not damaged or anything and was as clean as whistle, not affected by the damage at all. It was almost as it had been placed there…

"Guys!" she called, "Guys! I think I've found something."

Blake and Coulson walked over as she examined it.

"It's a necklace," Blake deadpanned, "Someone could have left it behind."

"No, but look," she pushed it in their faces, "Look at it- it's clean as a whistle. Where it was found was near the source of the explosion, it should be damaged or at the very least covered in dirt and whatnot, but it's absolutely fine, completely wearable. It just shouldn't be here."

"She's right," Coulson took it in his gloved hand, "I mean, I don't really do forensics or whatever but that is basic information that anyone could understand."

"Someone could have dropped it," Blake stated, even though he understood the situation, "But I do agree that it is strange- why would they have Matthews' necklace?"

"True," Coulson shrugged, "But there was a chance it was intentional. The question is- why?"

"Why what?" Tamworth wandered over, a slight grimace on his face. However, said grimace turned into a look of complete shock and hurt as he looked over the necklace. His battle-worn face had just dropped and it seriously looked as though he was about to burst into tears.

"That…that was Sadie's."

None of them had expected that.

"What?" Coulson frowned at him.

"Yeah it was," Tamworth took it from him, "I'd recognise it anywhere. She got it from her mother…it was her very favourite gift," his voice broke at the thought, "It was a present on her eighteenth birthday, if you look closely at the back, there's an inscription on the back of some kind. She wore it _everywhere,_ never took it off. Day she died, I couldn't find it anywhere. Not from her mother, from her family, not even in her own apartment. I thought she had it on but the time I'd got there, they didn't have it. There were no forensics on her neck, so I just presumed she hadn't had it on for the first time ever. I hunted it down, I wanted her to be buried with it, but no…there was nothing."

There was simultaneous sympathy and sorrow for the older man. Even Blake, who disliked Tamworth more than he disliked Emily (he didn't really hate Emily, but he had a very strong dislike that was nearly hate for the male agent), looked quite sorry for him. Tamworth had adored Agent Matthews and discovering this in this manner was obviously quite awful for him. He just stared at it in a mix of shock and hurt.

But this, this was evidence. They believed HYDRA was behind this and they had believed HYDRA was behind Sadie's death. Coincidence? Think not.

"I want this," there was no hesitation in Tamworth's voice.

"They'll need forensics on it first, sir."

"But I'm sure they can give it to you if you want it so badly," Blake added in. His sympathy may or may not have been genuine, but that statement was.

"I'd…I'd like that," Tamworth nodded, looking at it sadly, "I'll go take it to forensics then…"

The others nodded and Coulson patted his back sympathetically as he wandered away, before going away with Blake, deep in conversation. Emily watched for a while before going back to work, looking around her for something to do. She continued looking up and down, examining the damage. It was just so awful; she couldn't stop thinking about everything that had happened that day. As she looked, Steve came back over.

"Hey, I miss anything?"

She nodded and filled him in on everything that had happened with the necklace and like her, he looked suitably unimpressed.

"That's disgusting, poor Tamworth."

"I know," she shook her head, "He's a good guy, he doesn't deserve that. He and Agent Matthews were close, tighter than Barton and Natasha- he really loved her, she was his best friend, and he doesn't deserve that, he's dedicated his life to SHIELD."

Steve shook his head and took Emily's hands in his, bringing her closer. As he did, he noticed Tamworth looking at them with an absolutely heartbroken expression. Emily noticed too and removed her hands gently from Steve's. Tamworth shook his head before going to examine more evidence, the sadness in his eyes breaking any heart that saw them.

After another (short) sweep, the group left the room and went back out into the hall. Steve was following the others when they suddenly halted in the middle of one of the back corridors.

Lying against one of the walls was Agent Greene, a pretty young blonde. She also happened to be one of the people Emily truly despised. She was, in the words of the young agent, a 'preppy blonde bitch with the empathy of a bubble.' However, seeing her scared and vulnerable against the wall invoked some sympathy in her, even if she really didn't like her.

"Agent Greene?" Coulson, with his kind heart, was the first to ask after her, "Are you quite alright?"

She shook her head, "Not really, no."

"Where were you when the explosion happened?" asked Tamworth.

"N…not far away," she stuttered, pointing in the opposite direction, "But far enough from the explosion, it was only small. I was just getting some files and I just hear this blast and next thing I know everyone is screaming and running in various directions, guns out. I rush over and I see them waiting, the threat analysis team on standby. Then, after everything is cleared up and a bomb disposal team has checked the place over, they start bringing people out. People screaming in agony, all burnt up, their skin all…uck. I can't even think about it without being all freaked out. Those were the scientists that were up close, I think they maybe more injured than we first thought but then again, I'm not exactly a doctor, am I, I don't know what to think. They evacuated us all out for a bit, did a head count and registered us by clearance so they knew who was there and who was not. No one was missing, apart from the ones who had been, ya know, injured."

"How many?"

"Injured?" she asked.

He nodded.

"About three or four," she shrugged, "Those were the less serious ones, the more serious ones I heard about later, so maybe about five or six, I guess. The only one who was properly injured was Fairfax, they rushed her to the nearest ICU, I heard second-degree burns, but apparently, it wasn't all serious, but then again, that's just gossip, isn't it?"

There was a nod of agreement.

"Have you been checked out yet?"

Greene shook her head, "No, not yet, I was helping with the relief effort, I want to put myself before others this time around, especially since there's a lot of none security personnel around."

"You need to get checked out," Coulson looked around for someone to help, before stopping one of the techs, whom he was pretty sure was named Grayson, "Grayson can take you to medical."

He stooped to help her up and handed her over to Grayson, who swung an arm around her back and shoulders, propping her up and helping her along, against the slight limp she seemed to be sporting.

"Sir?" she suddenly turned around, with Grayson stopping to let her talk.

"Yes?"

"Please get them," her voice was full of pleading, "Please."

Coulson nodded, "I promise, we'll get them, we'll get them with everything we have."

She nodded a thank you as she hobbled away, assisted on foot by the tiny and skinny Grayson, who was struggling even under her weight. After she left, the group dispersed- Steve went off with Blake and Tamworth, leaving Emily with her uncle. They went off in the same direction, before crossing into the opposite corridor. An awkward silence ensured- either that, or nothing needed to be said.

"So, how are you, after, you know, everything?" Emily ventured with this stab of conversation.

Coulson shrugged, "I don't really know what to make of it, I suppose, it's all just one big surprise. I'm worried though, I'm not going to lie. We've seen what they can do, and I've got a feeling that it's going to get a lot more personal- you know, striking individuals. You know that I'm scared that something will happen to you, you're my niece and you know that I care about you more than anyone. But you're not the only one I'm worried about- I've got friends here, and so have you. That's what they're feeding off, the fear, the confusion, the suspicion. Everyone's suspicious of everyone; no-one knows who to trust anymore, it's a vicious circle. We could have HYDRA crawling all over SHIELD, but we don't know who is and isn't. It's a vicious, vicious cycle."

"Well, you're not wrong."

Coulson grimaced before his voice suddenly dropped several octaves.

"Have you found anymore about, you know, what we discussed?"

She sighed and shook her head, "Nothing more Uncle Phil and you know that, I would have told you by now. I just can't find anything- I'm Level 6, I can't find anything decent, I'm even more locked out of the loop than you are, so I don't know a thing."

"Yeah, I thought that would be the case," he sighed, "It's just getting difficult, isn't it?"

"Just a bit," she bit her lip as she agreed, "Look, Uncle Phil, are you sure that we just shouldn't give up on all of this? I mean, it's been years and we haven't got one ounce of information, not one of note. How can we keep on looking if we have no chance? I mean, neither of us even have the clearance level to even access anything good, and you're level 8 for Christ's sake, that's supposed to get some information, that's pretty much the highest an agent who isn't in the highest chain-of-command can get, so that's going to be a problem. I know that everything has changed for us right now, but we can't keep going on like this. Files, and security data, and everything, we've looked at everything, but we can't find anything at all. Don't take this the wrong way, but I think you're looking far too much into this. I know you told me to never give up, but this is just getting insane. I don't want to give up but I'm starting to think it's the way to go. I want to find out as much as you do, but, I just don't know anymore."

Coulson had calmly let her rant and listened patiently, but she could tell that he disagreed.

"Did you feel any different after?"

She shrugged, "Maybe, a bit, I guess, physically."

"But apart from that, you know, mentally."

"Work suddenly changed for me. You know I never liked killing people, well, I still don't, but I just feel so different, like I'm numb when I do it, like it's not happening."

"That's what I'm afraid of too. But Em, I need you to promise me that you can't give up on this, we need answers, both of us, not just me and not just you. Ok, can you promise that?"

She sighed.

"Ok, but only because I love you and it's you Uncle Phil, you know there's no one else I would do it for."

He nodded and it lapsed into an awkward silence.

"Sometimes you forget how dangerous this work is, don't you?"

"Yeah, it sucks."

"I can see why mom was so reluctant to let me do this. I mean, she knew it was my dream, but part of me wonders if she wished that I'd used my degree to get me straight into a career in 'something normal' so that I could have a regular life."

"Like Ethan?"

"Yep, just like Ethan," he didn't miss the bitterness in her voice.

"Look, kid," he slung an arm around her, "If it's what you love, don't give a crap about what other people think. You've worked your ass off for this and you've done so well for yourself, you're a great young agent. Also, you graduated from _Yale, _can many people say that? I think not. Can Ethan say that? No, he can't. Sure, he went to a good school and he's smart, but you did better than that, didn't you? You're one of the brightest people I know, for sure."

"Thanks Uncle Phil, you're the best."

"I try."

As they walked down the corridor, they were greeted by one of the scientists. As the young man walked away, Emily leaned forward and looked after him.

"What? He was cute," she shrugged.

"You have a boyfriend."

"And?" she shrugged again, "It's not like I'm doing it with him, I was just looking."

"Sure Steve minds? That wasn't too subtle."

"I usually am in his presence," she threw her hair back; "I'm an expert. Besides, it's normal to have a quick look around; I can't stop looking just because I'm with someone. I'm only window shopping, it's not like I'm buying the actual product."

"You read too much Cosmo, you do," he rolled his eyes.

"I prefer Glamour, actually. Or Elle, if that's not available."

"It's the same thing to me."

"Of course it is, you're a guy."

"Bit sexist, Em, didn't think you were like that."

"Then you don't know me at all," she winked.

As they continued down the corridor, Emily started thinking about what her uncle said. Of course she felt a _tingy _bit bad, but why should she? She loved Steve more than any guy she would ever met or ever dated in the past, so she would never, _ever _cheat on him. It went against her moral code, and she would never hurt the man she loved like that.

The two breezed along, continuing to encounter the injured and disdained. Whilst the explosion hadn't been large, many had been injured by the debris and flying shrapnel. The security guard with the broken arm they'd encountered earlier had apparently been injured when pushing someone out of the way of a falling beam.

It suddenly went quiet until a sharp noise ripped through the stairwell. Both automatically put their fingers to their ears.

"What the hell is that?" Emily screeched.

"I don't know," Coulson replied with a grimace, "But any longer and it will deafen us."

The buzzing stopped and even though they felt momentary relief, it soon faded when the TV in front of them started up suddenly, transmission waves flowing in front of them, a face jumping in and out of vision until it started becoming clearer.

They knew what was happening.

The two looked at each other as the face fully formed, masked by the HYDRA masks of old.

"Hello SHIELD, I have to say it's a pleasure to speak to you again. I would almost say I've missed you, but we've been busy, busy plotting your demise. We're terribly sorry about any deaths or injuries of any of your scientific staff; they may be useful in the future of our reign. We hope you don't hold it against us when you bow down to us. We hate the murder of such useful staff, but we made sure it was only small and that there wasn't any collateral damage. Like I said, we have the best on our side. Our scientists, the proud, brave and intelligent men and women we possess are true heroes and when the revolution comes, they will by richly rewarded. Oh yes, they will."

Coulson and Emily shot another dark look at each other.

"Unfortunately, we cannot say this is our last act of, how shall we say it, punishment?"

All around the agency, the hearts of agents and non-agents alike practically stopped beating.

"This is what we like to call 'Act 1' of the play of events. You got the intro, now this is Act 1. I suppose that it is quite an excellent analogy- you are our audience, a captive audience. You can see us, but not through our eyes. You can shout and jeer, but you cannot change the course of our play, shout at us to stop or change your actions. You can walk out, but you can never forget. What we show you will never leave your mind, you cannot escape our actions."

"This revolution, SHIELD, will show you who you can trust. When we arrive, some of you will embrace us as your saviours- many at SHIELD will realize they picked the wrong side and their epiphany will appear. You will all realize which side you are on. Nick Fury, choose your friends carefully. As soon as they see what we offer, they will leave your side. Keep your eye open Nick, but even then, it won't be enough."

The person's tone suddenly changed.

"Captain, I am sure that you are at the Slingshot now. If you weren't an enemy, I would love to have you at HYDRA with us, you are a worthy adversary. Your determination, strength and military intellect are second to none- SHIELD is very lucky to have you, very lucky indeed. Unfortunately, just like the others, you are a spectator. But later on, you will most definitely be an audience participate. You will watch as your loved ones die. Your loving friends, your beloved co-workers, your precious girl. They will be ready to fight us, but we will be even more so. They think they are on the right side, but not even offering their services to us will class as their redemption. Well, I am sure that you'd like to think that they would never do that to you. I think that's the problem- they won't. And that's why we're not going to give the offer to them. They are too loyal to both you and what you perceive as 'the side of good.'"

There was total silence as everybody watched.

"Problem is, there's no side of good. There's no such thing as 'good.' There's reality and that's it, but SHIELD , you're not as intelligent as we are, you don't know your place in the world. You want to reign in threats, those who you see as threats to your existence, because you were built on a lie. Face it, your organisation was based on lies. Your founders were simple, thinking they did what was right. But, of course, they were as wrong as you. You will learn, oh how you will learn, of our superiority. Some of you are very useful to us- you have some fine talent among you, that we cannot deny. Many of your scientists are intelligent, your technological fellows useful to the cause, you have reliable administrators and some of your agents are extremely capable. We will ask, and we will accept anyone willing to join the cause. We make this very clear that anyone deemed not an enemy will be gladly accepted if you wish. Even if your skills are less than... desirable, we have room for you. You can be moulded easily into the shape for our creation. Even if you aren't truly on the side of SHIELD, but haven't joined us, then you will still be deemed an enemy. We are terribly sorry about this, but it has to happen- we cannot accept anyone who hasn't sworn total allegiance to us. HAIL HYDRA!"

With that, the transmission cut off, back to its grainy state before falling to total silence.

Coulson now felt a total worry for Emily, whilst she was also scared for her friends.

"Come on, let's go find the others," Coulson suggested softly and the two made back down the corridor, not stopping until they found the rest of them. The group were gathered in a small semi-circle, the group being Barton, Natasha, Aaron, Natalie, Steve, Blake and Tamworth. Coulson went to sit between the other two senior agents but as soon as Emily went over, Steve indicated that she sit on his lap.

"Hey," she murmured, "How you doing?"

"Not brilliant," he replied as she settled into him, "They've just basically confirmed that they're going to hurt all of you. I just can't stand it- Wilson, the team, everyone I care about just because they're related to me. I can't believe it."

"They were right about one thing, though?"

"What's that?"

She turned around, "We're too loyal to SHIELD and you. I can confirm that I at least will never join HYDRA. They'd have to kill me first."

He smiled.

"That's my girl," he kissed her cheek lovingly, "But even then, they're not going to hurt you."

"And why is that?"

"Because I won't let them," his voice turned hard, "There is one thing that they're not going to do and that's hurt you. I love you more than anything, and I will fight everyone who dares come near you. If I have to die to protect you, then so be it, you know I'd die a million times to keep you safe."

"Don't say that," Emily shook her head, "I can't stand the thought. But they still could, you know."

"I know beautiful, but I will make sure that you will not be harmed."

She smiled at him too, "I'm so lucky, I love you. But you're not the only one who would die for the one they loved."

And it that moment, she knew she truly meant it.

**Aw cute.**

**Next chapter: Steve asks the dreaded question to Emily's dad and then lunches with Wilson.**

**Thanks for the support, hopefully I'll see you next time xxx**


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